Glint
by inspibrain101
Summary: Before the Guardians, Before Pitch, Before the Dark Ages, The Man in the Moon had one friend, and the world had one protector. And then Pitch defeated her... Now, Pitch is back, and unless the Guardians want the world to slip back into the Dark Ages, they need to find the original guardian, Ci'el. But nothing is as it seems, and the universe sure isn't going to make things easy.
1. Chapter 1

Ci'el shivered. She hardly ever moved nowadays, and her breathing was shallow and labored. The dark sand prisoned continuously swirled around her, laughing, jeering. For the past few thousand years, it had been a hard battle, not just for her survival, but for her sanity as well. And it was about to end.

Ci'el gasped. She could feel it, somewhere, something was dying... the golden sand that had existed in her thoughts for over a thousand years suddenly disappeared. There was only the darkness. Ci'el stopped breathing.

* * *

For the first time in a few hundred years, Ci'el opened her eyes. She took a deep breath. The scales were even once again. Now, she could concentrate. She reached down to the small pocket in her gray cloak, and grasped the small chip of emerald. It was time to escape.

* * *

Pitch Black landed in his lair with a hard thump. Without the tooth fairy cages and the boxes of teeth, it was very empty and cold and lifeless. He didn't really have time to notice, though, what with the few hundred night mares smothering him. With a final roar, he unleashed a burst of dark energy and shriveled them to dust.

He ran a finger through his greasy hair and seethed. Those pathetic guardians had beaten him! Him, Pitch Black, The Boogeyman! It was simply impossible!

Suddenly, he smiled, evilly.

Likely, the Guardians didn't expect him to show his golden eyes to the light of day for a few centuries. It was the perfect time to strike.

Despite what they thought, he was not powerless. He still had one card to play, one ace up his sleeve. His golden eyes.

Pitch glanced at the dome of black sand that had imprisoned his enemy for thousands of years. For the first time in a long while, he peeked inside. She was still.

There was no doubt about. Fear would rule.

* * *

"So, what now?" Jack sat on the back of a chair, twirling his staff. The elves ran around with plates of cookies, and the yetis continuously made toys. Tooth obsessively directed her fairies to various homes around the world to collect teeth, and Santa and Bunny were arguing over the merits of their holiday. Sandy listened attentively to the new Guardian.

"I mean, we just defeated the bad guy, the world is safe, so what happens now?"

Sandy tried to respond with various sand images without success.

Finally, to break up the conversation, Jack blasted the three distracted holiday icons with a freezing gust of wind.

"Oh, that is easy!" North laughed. "As new guardian, we educate you!" Tooth giggled and clapped her hands excitedly.

Jack met them with a blank expression.

"Okay, mate. It's simple. We just give ya a quick history, and then we disband, do what we do. Comprende?" Bunny summed it up in a somewhat more understandable accent.

Jack shrugged, immediately bored.

* * *

**A Brief History of the Guardians**

**Compiled from the Strange Conversation that soon followed**

**In the 5th century AD, Pitch Black ruled the earth with fear. Dark shadows loomed over the land!**

**Things were like this for a thousand years, until the day the guardians were born. Silently, the Guardians brought joy and happiness to people, fighting back the darkness. Finally, the Man in the Moon brought the four spirits together and the Guardians of the Children of the world, and one final battle, eradicated the Boogeyman's control over mankind.**

**To this day, the guardians continue to protect the children of the world, and are always on the lookout for Pitch Black.**

* * *

Jack looked up from the extensive volume which, it turns out, could have been summed up in less than a paragraph. But there was something that the book never mentioned, something that Jack was very curious about...

"Wait, Pitch showed up in the 5th century?"

North shook his head. "No, no, he was fighting for control long before then."

"Then, who was fighting him?"

The older guardians exchanged nervous glances at each other.

Sandy made some sort of indeterminate symbol over his head.

Bunny translated. "Ci'el."

* * *

**Sorry I took this down... I was feeling kind of down, felt I kinda needed a breather, and didn't really feel comfortable having an unfinished story sitting here, unupdated... (and I know that a lot of you guys have that pet peeve.) But anywho, I'm back!**


	2. Chapter 2

Ci'el's primary duty was to protect the children, but it was also her duty to protect the rest of the world. Things were different than they were with the guardians. They had each other to rely on, and specific tasks to help bring joy and happiness to the world. Ci'el? She was the first spirit created by the Man in the Moon. There was only her to protect everyone, and the world back then was a cruel, harsh place.

The guardians each protected one special value; wonder, hope, dreams, fun, etc.

Ci'el had to provide all of those. But Ci'el also brought the children one special thing that no one else since had been able to...

But that has been lost to time.

Ci'el worked every day to make sure that the world was safe for the children. Her's was a time of peace, beauty, enlightenment.

Then, one day, around the 1st century, Pitch Black was born. He had midnight hair and skin the color of ash, and eyes black as ink. They were not golden then. They were black.

He and Ci'el were, ironically, like night and day. The moment he realized his true power over fear and hatred, he despised everything that Ci'el stood for. His purpose was to destroy every good thing she had created.

The next 500 years were filled with war, and battles. Ci'el knew that a good dose of fear was necessary, but there must be balance. She fought at least to maintain that. This was a time of uncertainty. Civilizations were destroyed, and the very mountains toppled. Fear, it was found, was a powerful tool.

Finally, at the dawn of the 5th century, Ci'el weakened.

It was never known how exactly Pitch Black won the fight,

but in the shadows of the night, it was said that he beat and destroyed the first protector of the world.

It was also said that in the final days of the war, Ci'el hid four relics, the sources of her power, in different places, so that Pitch could not grow in power.

Pitch Black had won, and the next thousand years were the darkest the world had ever seen.

Finally, the Man in the Moon, who had slept safely during the time of Ci'el, awakened to the cries of the world, and he called together the guardians...

* * *

Jack did his balancing act across the telephone wires under the light of the moon, the story turning over in his mind, trying to assert itself. He had a light, powdery snow falling, slowly covering the land.

Burgess looked nice under the snow, but his thoughts were still far away. He had known that Pitch was the epitome of evil... but he had never known just what exactly he had done to get his power. He had toppled a peaceful world, and replaced hope and light with despair and darkness. He felt glad, for a moment, that he had not been born at the time.

He jumped on the roof of a brick apartment, and sat, legs hanging over the edge, to observe the snowy city. He sighed, pondering the past. Interesting thing, the past. It always came back to haunt you, even if you weren't there. For a moment, Jack looked down at the alley below, and what he saw took his breath away.

A family, a mother and three kids, huddled together against a cardboard box, struggling for warmth. They were dressed in raggedy clothing, and didn't seem to have a single possession in the world, except the air, the ground they sat on, and each other. The mother and the youngest child, a boy, were asleep. The older boy and his younger sister still seemed to be awake, and shivering.

It was times like these that broke Jack's heart. He couldn't really help them; he was just a spirit, practically a ghost. He had once seen a play, a few years ago; A Christmas Carol. There were two ghosts who had tried to help a starving mother and her baby by giving them bread. But they were ghosts, and the poor mother hadn't been able to see or even hear their moans, or the bread. Jack couldn't count how many times he had been able to relate to those ghosts. Until recently, everyone he had met had just passed through him. When he had first started out, he had seen people starving in the streets or even freezing. He had tried to help them, but as the spirit of frost, he usually just made things worse. All he could do was make sure it didn't snow on the poor family.

He sighed, unhappy. It was hard to forget sights like that. Suddenly, he heard his snow crunching. He cocked his head, listening. Down below, someone was softly, quietly walking by. He glanced down.

A person, a small girl, more like, walked towards the alley. She wore a long, warm brown cloak, and a hood that completely obscured her face. She carried a large, empty basket which she held against her side. Silently, she leaned down to the family, and held out her hands. They glowed red, and a bit of the color came back into their faces. She reached into the empty basket, paused, and pulled out a soft blanket. It covered the whole family and seemed to keep them warm... but it was transparent. Jack studied her with vague interest. He jumped down and started talking to himself aloud. After all, no one ever saw or heard him.

"That's awful nice of you." he quipped.

Surprised, the girl looked up. Her hood obscured everything but her eyes; her eyes were huge, and a pale, pale brown, like a dry twig; warm, soft. She took a step back.

"No, wait, it's okay! I'm not..." suddenly, his eyes widened. "Wait, you can see me?"

The cloaked girl didn't respond. She turned and ran with her basket around a corner, without making a sound. Jack hurriedly flew after her, but he couldn't find her. She had disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

The Northern lights filled the sky. They could be seen all over the world- at least, by those with the special sight to see. Within minutes, the guardians were congregated at the pole. Except for one.

"What's the deal here?" Jack floated through the window and glanced, curious at the somewhat reconvened group.

Tooth and Bunny waited around impatiently.

"Where's North?" Bunny's nose twitched.

"Come to think of it, where's Sandy?" Jack looked around. This was certainly odd.

Finally, alerted to the confusion, North poked his hairy head out the door of his workshop.

"Vell, vell!" He chuckled. "Thees eez... unexpected visit! Vat special occasion?"

Confused, the other guardians exchanged glances. "Um... you sent out the lights?" Tooth fluttered anxiously. "What's the problem?"

Santa wrinkled his brow, just as confused as they were. "Problem? There eez no problem!" He laughed. "Production is running at 100%, and there has not been a nightmare in veeks!" He glanced between the guardians.

"I didn't send out the lights. And vhere's Sandy?"

* * *

Sandy, sad to say, was not in the best of hands. That much was certain.

When he was ambushed, he couldn't exactly call for help. He had been crossing the ocean at the time, far from civilization, and, of course, he was mute.

It had been a normal night, throwing around the dream sand, falling asleep half the time, (sometimes from the sand, sometimes from mere exhaustion,) and generally being Sandman.

Then things started getting funky with the sand. It seemed like the sand was uneasy, which was especially strange since usually, he could bend the sand to his will with ease. It had suddenly begun to ripple, and jerk a little. It went from riding a merry go round to keeping a rhino on a leash. This was the distraction his adversary needed.

Pitch Black had snuck up in his own shadowy way, a sly yellow grin on his ashy face. His golden cat eyes had slashed the back of his neck, and he lost consciousness. Yes, it was possible to knock out an immortal spirit. It was also possible for Pitch Black to have enough self control to not kill his prey before its time, which was why Sandy woke up in the big black sand dome.

* * *

Sandy silently groaned and rubbed his golden head. He blinked as his eyes tried to adjust to the darkness. It took a few seconds to realize that the darkness was the black sand. As if on cue, a small gap opened in the dome. Pitch laughed and poked his head in the dark prison to gloat over his prisoner.

"Well, well!" he cackled. "If it isn't my old friend. Sandman!"

Sandy, obviously, couldn't respond. That didn't mean he couldn't be as angry as possible. He had sand-steam coming out of his ears and angry words and threats charade over his head in little images.

"I do hope that you're enjoying your stay!" he chuckled. "Is your cellmate treating you well?"

For the first time, Sandy noticed the little brown lump huddled in the corner. It was so quiet... so still...

"Oh, yes!" This was where Pitch started a monologue. "My old enemy!" He narrowed his eyes as he told of his own conquests. "For thousands of years, he has been my prisoner! I defeated him with my own hands! For years, this has been his home!" Now the Boogeyman let out a cliché evil laugh. He started pacing back and forth in his own triumph. "Finally, one day, he stopped moving. This is all that's left of him, now!"

This served to make Sandman just a bit nervous, and twice as angry.

"Well, if that is all you need? Would you like a drink of water, or perhaps a snack?" he said sarcastically. "Welcome home!" His parting words as he closed the black sand dome.

* * *

Sandy crinkled up his nose upsettedly at the swirling black sound surrounding him. Just a few hours in his special prison was quite upsetting, he couldn't imagine anyone being able to withstand the mind games this place played for more than a few months. Pitch Black claimed that Ci'el had survived his prison for over a thousand years! Several times, Sandy had watched the huddled figure in the corner. Not once had he made a sound, or even moved. It didn't even seem like he was breathing...

Finally, Sandy walked up to the poor guy, to see if he was, in fact, dead...

What he found when he did this was quite shocking, quite shocking indeed...


	4. Chapter 4

The search had commenced a few hours ago, and since then, there hadn't been any sign of the Sandman, not a single stray bit of golden dust. It was risky doing their work in broad daylight, where they were more likely to be seen by children, but this was an emergency. The last time Sandy had disappeared...

North was covering the globe with his sleigh. Bunny was on the ground, checking anywhere Sandy could possibly be via his tunnels. Tooth anxiously checked the more urban parts of the world, along with receiving reports from her fairies delivering coins and collecting teeth around the world. Jack, who had spent the last 300 years exploring obscure forests and crawling through the hidey holes of far away mountains, was to check the smaller towns and open land.

Jack, flying faster than usual, dodged trees and flew through mountain tunnels in search of Sandy. He quickly crossed Australia, North America, and Europe off his list. There were a lot more hiding places in Asia, and Africa was a bit hot for the winter spirit, but they, too, turned up empty. It was when he was crossing the Atlantic ocean that he realized where he hadn't yet checked; the oceans. It was in the middle of the Pacific ocean, far from land, that Jack saw the mixture of gold and black sand swirling around the water. Shocked, he dove down to investigate. He made himself a good-sized ice floe to stand on and used his staff as a paddle.

It was clear that there had been a battle here. There was a light current, that was just starting to spread the sand. There was a good quantity of golden sand, and only a bit of Pitch's signature black.

Jack scratched his head. "Strange," he thought. "If it was a big fight, there would be a lot more black sand, wouldn't there?"

Sandy could obviously handle himself. After all, he lasted a whole five minutes against an entire herd of nightmares, and he only lost because Pitch Black played dirty.

He should've been able to get a few good shots in! Jack had seen him only a few days ago, and he seemed perfectly fine then- more than fine, in fact. It seemed that the whole 'being dead,' thing had rejuvenated him a bit, along with the rise in believers.

He couldn't wrap his head around it. What had happened?

Jack felt a dark tingling at the back of his neck. As the shadow covered the sky, he realized that he knew exactly what had happened to Sandy.

"He was ambushed." he whispered. His suspicions were confirmed by the Nightmares that enveloped him from behind. Then there was only black... and Pitch's golden eyes.

* * *

Jack woke up as Pitch was dragging him towards the sand prison. He immediately started to struggle.

"Ah, Jack!" Pitch chuckled. "I've decided it's too much trouble to destroy all you guardians." he spat out the last word. "Instead, I have found it more suitable to let you rot, here, under my watch. Just like my old friend..." he paused for dramatic effect. "...Ci'el."

Jack stopped and stared up at the ashen man in shock. Pitch opened up a gap in the black sand dome and tossed him in by the scruff of his neck, like a naughty puppy. "Enjoy eternity, Jack Frost!" he cackled and closed the dark prison around him. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn't in complete total darkness. There was a golden light... he whirled around, pointing his staff at whatever it was, in case it was a threat.

It was Sandy. He looked quite distraught, but he seemed alright. Jack lowered the staff.

"Sandy!" he cried, and ran towards him, embracing him. "Oh, thank goodness! You're alive!"

Sandman patted him on the back and started shoving him off. He started to try to communicate something with his sand images.

"Yeah, I know. The other guardians don't know we're here."

Sandy desperately started showing him an image of a shovel, a flour sack, and chains.

Jack scratched his head. "Of course we've gotta escape!" He started to fly around, looking for weak spots around the dome. Every time he got too close, a nightmare would rear forward to attack. "Well, not that way."

Sandman facepalmed and kept trying to say something. Finally, he grabbed the winter spirit and dragged him over to the 'body' of the protector once known as...

"Ci'el." Jack breathed. He nudged the still form a little. It was like a dead shell. Immediately, the rage started building up inside of him. Here was physical proof that Pitch Black was not only a megalomaniac and a psycho, but also a killer. He started angrily trying to shoot ice against the black sand in a futile attempt to escape. Sandy tried to calm him down, and started shaking him by the shoulders.

"Come on, Sandy! What exactly are we gonna do? Ride a magical pony out of here?"

That was when the horse showed up.

It came out of the sand, looked just like a regular nightmare. Except its eyes were green, and it didn't attack. It was more like a black unicorn rather than a nightmare, really. It was tame, and nuzzled Jack softly, as if to comfort him.

He instantly jumped back, and pointed his staff at the black horse. Its ears barely twitched in response.

The tame nightmare clopped over to Ci'el and stood facing Sandy and Jack, and gestured with his head, as if saying, "Get on!"

"What's going on, Sandy?"

Sandy walked over to the horse, scratched its head fondly, and kicked aside the brown cloak. It was stuffed with flour sacks, and sat over a hole. Ci'el wasn't here. Ci'el was long gone.

* * *

Pitch basked in his dark glory. This new system was much, much easier than the one he had before. Divide and Conquer! The Romans knew that lesson well. Now he used it to his advantage. Two of his enemies were already down for the count! At this rate, he would be ruler of the world by the end of the week! He laughed happily as he watched Nightmares fight each other angrily. Such terrible creatures, Nightmares. He looked up at the metal globe, already anticipating how quickly the little lights of belief would be snuffed out by the end of the day. But the whiny voice of Jack Frost coming, slightly muffled, from the sand prison interrupted his dark thoughts.

"Hey, Boogeyman! I got some questions for you!"

Pitch groaned. Did he have to deal with this now? "Very well, Frost. Never let it be said that I am an unjust being."

"Okay, I've got two questions. First, you do realize you'll never get away with the whole 'taking over the world thing,' right?"

He rolled his eyes. "How cliché. I'll never get away with this, you say? I apologize for being as unoriginal as yourself, but I believe I already have!" He turned to walk away from the dome.

"Hmm, okay. Second Question: when was the last time you checked on your prisoners? 'Cause Ci'el sure isn't here!"

Pitch's eyes widened. The gold in them sparked. He turned back and ran to the dome, throwing open his own door. "What?" he shrieked.

"Later!" Jack and Sandman sat on the tame Nightmare, which dove into the tunnel, straight to freedom.

* * *

It didn't seem that they'd been riding very long when they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The Nightmare burst out of the tunnel with his two passengers, who jumped off once they reached solid ground.

They were in the middle of a forest. It took Jack a few moments to realize that they were right next to his pond in Burgess. "How odd," he thought.

At that moment, North's sleigh landed in front of them, on the pond, carrying him, Tooth, and an airsick Bunnymund.

"Oh, thank goodness!" gasped Tooth when she saw Sandy and Jack. Bunny hopped up. "Where've you been? You two have been gone all day!"

North raised a concerned eyebrow at their disheveled state. "What happened?"

Sandy made an image of Pitch Black. Jack confirmed it. Tooth gasped and covered her mouth. Her little fairies hid behind her.

"He captured us, and put us in a special prison, made of the black nightmare sand. He said... he said that's where he put Ci'el, all those years ago."

The other Guardians' eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Sandy started to make images to show an escape. Jack nodded. "But we think that Ci'el escaped! Ci'el's alive!"

* * *

Ci'el hid in the trees, watching the Guardians. "So they protect the world now?" she thought.

Ci'el was free. Now she just needed to remember what happened before...


	5. Chapter 5

Sage wove through the trees, trying desperately to keep up with the little sparrow. This was her only chance.

The little brown bird landed every few feet, and hopped around to make sure his friend was keeping up. Sage was enraptured with the way the bird dove in and out of leaves. She laughed at its funny little movements. She did this inadvertently. Though she couldn't remember that far back anymore, this had been a technique she used to stay... herself. She laughed. She cried. She got angry. She breathed.

Finally, the little bird circled over a tree a few times, and landed in front of a stone door in a green hill. It reminded her of a rabbit hole, except larger.

The door was decorated with stone branches and birds and tigers and all sorts of animals. Sage blushed, just now realizing that she didn't remember how to get in. To avoid going away, she laughed it off, thinking the situation quite humorous. Then she stepped back and thought about the situation.

"I'm me." she thought. "I need what's on the other side. I put it there, and I want it back. So how would I get it back?" such was her thinking process. She couldn't see any holes on the door, but that would've been to obvious. What was in there was for her, and her alone.

Sage pursed her lips. The plant and animal designs on the door were nice, but she really didn't see a need for them. They didn't camouflage the door at all. In fact, they made it more noticeable...

"Oh, that's it!" she gasped. She first looked at the animals. There were lions and tiger and bears (oh my!) she giggled. Then paused. How was that a joke? It made no sense. But she laughed anyways. There were eagles, and rhinos, and a great blue whale. Dragons, Dinosaurs, and a unicorn. All wonderful animals, but they were too big for her to tame. With green sparks in her eyes, she stepped back from the door and into the shaded grass. It was then that she realized what else was on the door. She facepalmed herself playfully and laughed. With a wave of her hand, the little flowers carved into the door glowed green, and grew, tall, into the shape that she wanted. A green doorknob, engraved with flowers. Laughing happily, she turned the Jade knob and walked into the cave.

* * *

Jack sat in the window seat of North's workshop, thoughtful. He made little frost pictures on the window in the shape of snowflakes. That was the sort of thing he did when he was bored.

Sandy walked up to the deathly white boy and made a question mark over his head. He poked Jack to get his attention.

"Hmm? Oh, hi Sandy." he said distractedly. Sandy made a symbol over his head, in the shape of the sand prison dome, and then a band aid.

Jack grinned. "Yeah, I'm okay. How about you?" Sandy thought a moment and made an OK sign with his fingers. Then he pointed at Jack and made a thought bubble.

Jack looked out the window again. "It's just... there was this girl I saw the other day. She was giving food and blankets to this homeless family. And it got me thinking..." he sighed. "Don't you ever wish that you could do more for people? Not just the children, but... everyone?"

Sandy shook his head sadly and made a picture of the earth. "Yeah, I guess we can't help the entire world."

Sandy thought a moment, and tried to make a picture of a girl giving food to a person, and then a question mark.

Jack squinted for a moment, trying to remember. "Oh yeah. She was small, like a child. She wore a brown hood and a cloak, so I couldn't see her face..." Excitedly, Sandy started to sign something. "I think she might've been a spirit, like us, because the family didn't see her, and she was doing something weird with a basket, and I'm pretty sure she could see me. When I started talking to her, she ran away, disappeared!" Jack remembered something else. "Oh yeah! Her eyes. The hood covered everything but her eyes. They were huge, pale brown..." Sandy suddenly looked disappointed. They weren't blue.

* * *

**5,000 B.C.**

Little Sanderson loved the beach. It was warm, and the sand seeped between his toes. The waves made such a soft, soothing sound! That was why he came here every day. It was quiet. He was never really one for noise. Although, it would have been nice to have a conversation once in a while...

Suddenly, he was startled by a noise to his right. A girl in a brown hood stood still, watching the ocean before her. She was almost shorter than he was! Sandy cocked his head, curious. No one else came here, except him. They were always afraid of ghosts and sea serpents and whatnot. He preferred to imagine the happier things in life.

Sanderson started to walk towards the small girl. His feet crunching softly in the sand alerted her to his presence. She looked up, and he could see her eyes. They were blue, deep blue, swirling like the water. The girl smiled sadly at the little boy. "Hello." she said softly.

He waved his hand in greeting. "You like the water?"

He shrugged and instead sat down in the warm sand, playing in it. "I see, you prefer the sand." she said ponderously. The girl in the hood, much to warm for the beach, turned back to the ocean. She sighed, so softly that only the wind could hear.

They sat together on the beach for a while, each in their own thoughts. Before long, a dark cloud had come to block out the sun, and it started raining. Inwardly, Sandy groaned. He started to get up so he could trudge home, when the girl grabbed him by the arm. Before he could react, the rain let up, and he was dry. It wasn't long before he realized that it was still raining. Just not on him. Surprised, he turned back to the blue eyed girl, who was looking at the ocean. He silently gasped. The rain made little plooping sounds in the ocean, and the water made such strange shapes. He sat back down in the cooler sand to watch the strange images. The girl had a slightly happier smile now.

Finally, she spoke again. "Don't ever let the clouds chase you away, Sandy." He looked up at her, surprised. How had she known his name? He had never seen her before.

But she was gone.

Sandy never let anything push him around.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack flew over the forest, on the lookout for Pitch.

Something hadn't sat right with him about this whole... thing. Ever since Pitch had been defeated, there had not been a single nightmare sighting, not even a speck of black sand floating around. He and the guardians had assumed that Pitch was so beaten that he wouldn't poke his head out of his hideyhole for a few centuries at the very least...

But then he and Sandy had been kidnapped.

And they'd been proven wrong. When Jack had seen Pitch, he had been surprised by how healthy he looked. And not just healthy... he looked more powerful than when the guardians had one single believer. Much more powerful. But that's not what worried Jack. What worried him was that Pitch wasn't using this power. It could only mean he had something big and bad in mind. And that was never good.

And what of this news that Ci'el, the first protector of the world... could he really be alive? What would that mean for the Guardians and their fight against Pitch?

Jack was shaken out of his thoughts by the laughter of a child in the woods. He was starting to dismiss it, when he realized that it was the middle of the night, in the middle of the woods. What on earth was a child doing out here? Whatever the case, it was his duty as a guardian to deal with the situation.

He landed in a circular clearing, and started looking for the kid. It sounded like a girl, maybe 10 years old? That was strange... he couldn't find her..

"Hee, hee hee!" he heard the happy laughter behind him. He whirled around and saw the girl, shadowed by the trees. She turned around and started running deeper into the trees. He immediately gave chase.

He flew between tree trunks and under branches, but he soon lost the girl. He grumpily kicked a tree and a green-eyed squirrel dropped on his head. It started teasingly attacking his face in mock anger. He stumbled around, blinded, trying to brush it off his face. When he finally did, the squirrel scrambled back up the tree it fell from, and shook an angry fist at him. He sat down next to a rock, exhausted.

For a moment, he thought that maybe that girl was the same one that he had seen in the alley a few days ago, trying to help that family...

He shook his head. It couldn't be! That girl had warm, pale brown eyes. This had to be a different girl. Her eyes were a sparking emerald green.

* * *

"Nothing?" North almost looked hopeful.

Jack sadly shook his head. "Not a grain of Nightmare sand." He kept the part about the girl to himself.

North slammed a fist onto the table and lowered his head. "He is saving for something big!" he seethed. He looked up at the other guardians. "Do ve have any idea vat?"

Tooth's wings beat a little slower, and Bunny's eyes lost a bit of shine as they felt the enormity of the situation. Sandy tapped his chin and spouted a few ideas in his picture language. It involved a shovel, a horse, a match, and a cake.

"That makes no sense." North grumbled subtly. Jack leaned against his staff. "You should've seen the look on Pitch's face when I told him that Ci'el escaped. I really don't think he knew!"

Bunny's ears perked back up. "Then he'll probably be changing some of his plans! He'll at least want to destroy his worst enemy." He stiffened as he realized what he just said. "I mean, besides us, of course."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, of course. But I get the feeling that Pitch hadn't really checked in his little prison for a while. Ci'el stuffed a hood or something with flour bags. He might've been free centuries ago!"

Bunny scoffed. "Well, a bloody lot of good he did, helping us out against Pitch last Easter." Tooth smacked him on the head. "Ow!"

North stroked his white beard. "He makes good point. If Ci'el had escaped long ago, he vould've helped. It must have been recent."

Jack shifted his feet. "Or he just didn't help." Earning him a smack from Tooth. "Ow!"

Sandy suddenly got and idea. He started showing a bunch of images that no one could really follow.

"Sandy," Bunny started slowly. "If you do, in fact, have the ability to speak, please speak."

Steam shot out of his ears. Finally, irritated, he made an image of a book.

"Ah, yes!" North shouted triumphantly. "Ze old legends!" He walked over to the book case and picked a thick volume off of a high shelf, and blew a cake of dust off the cover, straight into the face of an elf, who started coughing violently.

He dropped the book with a big thud on the table. The guardians huddled around it. There was absolutely nothing grand about it. It was worn, and brown, and crumbly. The title wasn't even readable anymore. "This," North whispered. "Is the book of legends. Written before the Guardians."

Tooth smacked herself in the forehead and laughed. "Oh, why didn't I think of this before!"

Proudly, Sandy pointed at himself and made victory symbols over his head.

Jack was confused. "Wait, is there something in here that can help us?"

"Even better!" Bunny laughed. "There's a whole chapter on Ci'el. Pitch fought him a lot before the dark ages, likely he knows a lot about him. If we learn about Ci'el, we might just figure out Pitch's next move!"

Jack balanced on top of his staff excitedly. "Well, then let's get reading!"

North roared with laughter and opened up the book to a dogeared page. He looked like he was about to start reading, but he stopped, and blushed.

"What?" Tooth cocked her head.

"It's... It's written in Latin."

Jack furrowed his brow. "Can't you guys read latin?"

In unison, the other four guardians shook their heads, embarrassed. "It's before our time, mate." Bunny crossed his arms grumpily.

Jack sighed and before anyone could protest, he grabbed the book and glanced at the page. He rolled his eyes. "Wow, this is just- wow."

And he started reading.

* * *

_Ci'el's powers are unknown. There is no reliable account of him fighting Pitch Black. There is no reliable description._

_Some witnesses claim that Ci'el angrily threw fireballs at the black demon._

_Others say that he fought like an animal. Still others say that he skillfully controlled the water around him._

_However, the most common belief is that of the four strongholds._

_It is said that the protector of the world kept four different strongholds all around the world._

_The locations are kept secret to this day._

_They were extremely well hidden, and craftily guarded._

_It is believed that near the end of the war against darkness, Ci'el realized that he would not win._

_So, to avoid giving power to Pitch Black, he split his own power into four magical capsules. He hid each of the relics in a stronghold, in order to keep his power away from Pitch._

_Ci'el swore that as long as he were beaten by the Boogeyman, the strongholds would be sealed, never again to see the light of day..._

_except by him, or anyone who would use the power wisely against the powerful darkness._

_Not long after he had hidden the powerful relics, Pitch Black ambushed the tired protector, cornered him, and destroyed him. _

_From then on, there was a time of darkness..._

* * *

"...blabbedy-blah, guardians, happiness, joy, the end." Jack finished and closed the book.

The other guardians gaped at him. "Sooo... that was a good story, eh?" Jack tried to lighten the mood.

Bunny stomped his foot angrily. "Where on earth did you learn to read that fancy language, Frostbite?"

He shrugged awkwardly. "I don't know... I hung out in a library for a while, I guess. There's not much to do if you only work for three months."

Gingerly, North took the book back and started trying to look at the pictures for a clue.

Sandy started waving excitedly. He made a picture of a magnifying glass, and a lightning bolt.

Tooth scratched her head for a moment. "Oh! You think that we should search for the relics?"

He nodded excitedly and made an image of Pitch. "You think Pitch might be looking for them, too?" more nods.

"This is great idea!" North said excitedly. "This is all anyone knows about Ci'el. It says that the artifacts are the source of his power. If we find the artifacts, then we might have the power to beat Pitch."

Jack swung his staff around happily. "Wait, you think Pitch is searching for them, too?"

Bunny started putting the pieces together. "It says that as long as Ci'el is beaten, then the strongholds remain closed. But Ci'el sure ain't beaten no more! An' Pitch knows it, too. He might think that this is the wild card that'll lead him to victory."

Jack grinned, nodding. "But not if we find 'em first!" He turned to North. "There are four of them, it says?"

Tooth suddenly landed, sullenly. "Uh, guys? Just one problem." They turn to face them. "It also said 'extremely well-hidden.' And we have no idea whatsoever about their locations."

A brooding silence.

North sighed. "Dingle, could you put this back, please?" he handed the huge book to the tiny elf, who nearly collapsed under its weight. As he stumbled around with it, a folded piece of paper fluttered to the ground from between the pages. Jack grabbed it before it hit the floor, and unfolded. His eyes widened.

"Geez, North! Where do you get these books?"

North shrugged unsuredly. "I don't know, from curio shops. Vhy?"

Jack held up the paper. "'Cause we got a map."


	7. Chapter 7

_Ah, the Guardians. _Pitch Black mused. _They think they're sooo clever, trying to discover my plan. That they can beat me at my own game! _he laughed at the thought.

_Little do they know, I already have the advantage._ He fingered the moonstone amulet and grinned wickedly.

_Now, all that's left for me to do is DESTROY THAT PESKY LITTLE SPIRIT IN THE HOOD ONCE AND FOR ALL!_

* * *

There were six people in the room. Five were the Guardians, and Sapphire was the one. Not that they knew it, of course. Let's just say the others weren't in the mood to see her.

They were all circled around the map on the table. Sapphire from a distance, of course.

The map was all but crumbling in their hands, it was so old. The creases in it nearly tore it to pieces. The ink outlining the map, while once colorful and detailed, was faded to a grey.

Tooth cocked her head anxiously. "Is it really a map to the strongholds? Where does it lead?"

Bunny twitched his nose as he studied it. "I dunno, mates. This could be a map of an island, a continent, heck, the entire geography could have changed from the time the map was made!"

Jack jumped across the table back into his seat; he was getting kinda tired.

North patted his belly, feeling the familiar anxious jiggling that had guided him for so long.

The map was just a squiggly, nondescript sort of oval. A red dot indicating the stronghold, and the background was decorated with stars.

Sandy looked back and forth between the map and the sky. Map... sky... It was nighttime. The stars were out. He suddenly notice how the stars in the background were placed.

He anxiously waved a flag above his head, trying to tell the guardians his findings.

"Yes, vat is it Sandy?"

He pointed at the shape on the map, and then to the globe.

He pointed at the starry background, and then at the sky.

Then he made a picture of a chain above his head.

Jack sat up. "They're connected!"

Sapphire smiled sadly. She should've known; she had always loved the stars, and picture puzzles were the best.

North ran through his workshop, searching for a toy globe. He found one a yeti had just finished painting, and spun it around on the table.

"Now, ve just line ze globe up vith ze stars, and ve find the location!"

The Guardians stood under the domed roof, looking up at the night sky as North painstakingly turned the toy globe to match the map. Finally, he pointed at the map, and made a trail with his finger to the spot on the map.

"Japan." he breathed.

* * *

More specifically, a small clearing on the side of Mount Fuji. It took half the day to find, which made the Guardians anxious. Now that they knew, or at least thought they knew, Pitch's plan, it seemed like every second of searching counted.

It was a strange place; though the mountain was freezing cold nearly the whole year round, the small well indented in the mountain was a cool, comfortable 70 degrees. There was spring green grass, and trees littered with cherry blossoms. But the focal point of the area was a pool of crystal clear water. It was perfectly rectangular. The sides and the bottom were carved stone, with two carve koi fish wrapping around each other on the bottom of the pool.

Sapphire was the first to find it; but only by a little.

The guardians arrived soon after.

"Woah." Jack breathed, Tooth landing behind him. It was cool and relaxing, yet not so warm that it made the spirit of winter uncomfortable.

The sleigh landed after him. Compared to the tranquil place, the landing seemed like that of a lumbering elephant. One by one, the other three guardians climbed off the rickety sleigh, Bunny a little more than green in the face.

They couldn't contain their amazement.

There was just a peaceful, laid back aura about the whole place. Faint, like a sweet smell you can barely sense. The guardians felt small in the great atmosphere.

Slowly, Bunny walked forward, the silky grass barely making any noise beneath his feet. His nose twitched, and he looked around. "This can't be the place." he muttered.

Jack gaped at him. "You're kidding, right?"

He waved his hand casually. "Oh, it's fancy and all that, but... it's too public. Even if it is on a bloody mountain."

Tooth fluttered anxiously. "Maybe, Ci'el thought it was well hidden enough. I mean, it's a mountain. People back then didn't just climb mountains."

North furrowed his brow. "No, but Pitch could." He gestured to a nearby cherry tree. "There's a good sized shadow right there. Anywhere there's a shadow, Pitch will find it. It has to be hidden elsewhere."

The guardians began to turn back to the sleigh, disappointed. Sandy didn't. Instead, he tapped his chin, and looked at the sweet clearing with an observant eye. He noticed something interesting about the pool...

He perked up, and flew over to the stone pool. He looked at the carved stone edge, and if he had a voice, he would've squealed in delight. He followed the carvings around the perimeter of the pool, reading the words.

Jack turned around from the sleigh, and looked confused. "Sandy? What're you doin'?"

Sandy looked up eagerly and made a picture of a magnifying glass. "Searching? bigger? Looking? A clue!" Sandy nodded.

Immediately, the other guardians rushed over to the squat golden figure, and looked at the carvings he pointed at. Words were decoratively carved all around the edge of the pool:

_If a man is given a gift of fortune,_

_Is he as mortal as the other man?_

_If one creature is darker than the other,_

_Can he be as pure as the other can?_

_If worth is what you seek,_

_Take heart, these words you read._

_For the flow of healing will rise_

_In your hour of need,_

_only by a staff_

_and a seed._

_But avoid the follies of your guide,_

_for ix and x lie._

North wrote down the words on a piece of paper for them to study.

Bunny muttered along some of the key phrases. "fortune... man... creature... dark... pure, worth... flow of healing... hour of need... staff and seed, follies, ix and x lie."

At the word 'staff,' Jack protectively clutched his own closer. North noticed this and laughed jollily. "Relax, Jack! No vun is going to use your staff!"

He rolled his eyes as he thought about the riddle. "It's gotta be somehow related to this place. The stronghold, or at least the relic, must be hidden around here. It's gotta be a reference to a hiding place or something."

Tooth absentmindedly played with some cherry blossoms that had fallen in the breeze. "Gift of fortune... mortality... why does that sound so familiar?" At that moment, she dropped the flowers and flew up excitedly. "Fortune! Mortality! It's referring to the cherry blossoms!" She landed and explained patiently. "In Japan, Cherry blossoms are considered a symbol of good fortune and represents the fleeting nature of mortality."

The other guardians had blank expressions on their faces. Tooth rolled her eyes and sent out a small squadron of fairies to check each cherry tree.

North tapped his chin thoughtfully. "A seed. Do you think that the riddle could be referring to a cherry seed?"

Sapphire stood up from her spot under the cherry tree, and looked up at the big, juicy cherry sitting on the branch above her. Nonchalantly, almost boredly, she kicked the tree with her bare foot and effectively knocked it down. Now that she knew the riddle, she knew how to get in... but would it be too suspicious if the stronghold revealed itself? At the moment, she preferred her anonymity. All her sisters did. Even Scarlet. So she would simply have to wait...

The small tooth fairy saw the cherry and grabbed in, heaving it over to the Guardians. She burrowed a bit inside it, and pulled out the pit, still wet and fresh. Jack picked it up with his thumb and fore finger, and walked over to the pool. He looked around it, unsure of what to do. "ix and x lie." he muttered.

IX. X.

Jack ran back to North and grabbed the paper from his hand. He counted the lines... "Ix and x lie. It means lines 9 and 10 are a decoy. There's no need for a staff or seed."

Sapphire gave a sad smile. _Rhymes..._

Bunny groaned. "So we're back to cherry blossoms. Mortality and fortune and whatnot."

Tooth fluttered back down, disappointed.

Sandy still sat by the pool, observing the words with interest. Suddenly, he notice something else interesting that no one had noticed before. He immediately waved his hands in the air to get their attention.

The Guardians looked up. Sandy made a picture of two fish swirling around each other, just like the carving at the bottom of the pool. Bunny cautiously leaned over the pool to get a better look at it. His eyes widened. "Ones darker than the other. _One creature is darker than the other. _The poem refers to these here fish."

Indeed, the fish seemed to be designed to almost look like a yin-yang symbol.

Jack knocked his staff against the side of the pool. He was surprised when the stone made a hollow sound. Curious, he flew over the pool, and looked on the inside of the stone. It was, in fact, hollow. There was a long slit cut around the inside of the pool, like a gutter. The water was exactly level with it, unable to flow inside.

Jack landed back on the ground to meet the confused Guardians' faces. He smirked. "I think I might have an idea."

He plucked a single cherry blossom from the tree, and dropped it in the pool. The water rose just the slightest bit, but it was enough. A bit of water slid in the gutter around the pool, activating the mechanism. The gutter opened wider, draining more water from the pool. The two koi fish at the bottom of the pool slowly slid around each other, rising. When the pool was drained, the bottom opened. The koi fish carving had a stone stair case winding around it, down into the darkness below.

Jack stepped onto the staircase. "Okay. How's that for a riddle?"

* * *

Sapphire couldn't get in with the Guardians around. They'd notice something was wrong. They always did. She sadly sat on the ground, waiting for them to file down the steps so she could follow.

She had to keep her emotions in check. To stay herself. She had to remain sad. The guardians didn't see her sad blue eyes follow them down the stairs into the stronghold. They weren't in the mood. They were to serious right now, nervous that Pitch might be around the corner. Sapphire couldn't afford to be fearful right now. Sepia had no business being down here. She had to do this for herself...


	8. Chapter 8

The steps wound around the stone pillar beneath the drained pool, going down, down, down, as if deep in the heart of the mountain. There was the faintest light. Not from torches, but from light reflected from water, presumably at the bottom of the stairs. The white ripples bounced off the stone walls, creating a cooling effect. The guardians nervously walked down the stairs, single file. Sapphire walked silently behind them. Though, to be fair, she could've been an elephant faced with a mouse and they wouldn't have notice her. They just weren't in the mood.

Finally, at the bottom of the stairs, they had reached the stronghold. It was fan shaped, and there was, indeed, a pool of beautiful crystal water, forming a semi circle against the wall where the stairs ended.. The palest water lilies floated on the surface. Some light at the bottom of the pool caused the image of the rippling water to bounce off the stone walls. The walls were smooth marble, and they were decorated with the most amazing murals. Tiles depicting ocean waves, paints shaping the wind, bits of glass making sunlight. Cobble stepping stones were placed in the water to form a path to the room beyond.

As for the 'room beyond,' well, it was safe to say that the Guardians had seen nothing like it. The room was made up of the outer part of the fan-shaped cavern. It was brightly lit, but not with fire or sunlight, but rather with the same light coming from the water; it was blue, and rippled. The walls were blue-streaked marble. Paintings and art even greater than those surrounding the pools shimmered and glowed. The artist had used colors you couldn't even imagine, yet it was all sensibly arranged, like fung-shui. Another thing- the paintings were all peaceful, or sad. There were no angry colors, or particularly happy ones. They all gave either a peaceful feeling, or a sad one. Soft flute music, barely distinguishable, wafted through. On one side, shelves were carved into the marble walls, and held thick, gilded books. A big blue pillow leaned against the corner, presumably for sitting or sleeping on. On the opposite side of the room, There was a table, about 5 feet by 3 feet, made of white wood, well-worn. A sconce with an unlit candle sat on the table, and a locked chest sat beside it. A soft looking blue chair was pushed into the table.

The guardians were astonished by the place. It was probably one of the most beautiful they had ever seen. They carefully stepped on the stones across the pool, and stared in wonder at Ci'el's stronghold. They did not see the ripples Sapphire made as she solemnly stepped across the surface of the water. She looked at every stone, every inch of the walls, every tile of every mural. Each held a spark of recognition. She wondered at the familiarity of the place she didn't remember. She smiled fondly when she didn't remember the hours spent painting her heart into the canvas, the rainy days quietly reading legends and adventures. Scarlet wouldn't have liked that. She started to feel happy- but then stopped herself. She had to remain mournful. It was easy to get back into the mood- after all, there were a lot of things to be mournful about.

Reverently, the Guardians observed the spacious gallery, not wanting to touch anything for fear of damaging something. They sighed at the beauty of the paintings, depicting flowers and children, and, strangely enough, the Guardians themselves.

Why would Ci'el have painted them if they did not exist before he disappeared?

They opened the long-closed books and wondered at the beautiful tales woven within them. The Guardians were awed by the variety of art supplies within the locked chest when they opened it with the key they found on the white table. And they looked curiously at the knitting needles sitting by the big pillow.

And then they found the alcove.

It was an inlet carved in the back of the room, about a foot deep, and arching. As they approached it, two candlesticks standing on either side of it flickered to life with aqua flame. The inlet was glazed with reflective glass, like a reflection in rippling water. Sitting in it was, simply, a locked box.

Sapphire knew what was here. But she could not retrieve it, with the Guardians here. They would be alerted to her presense, and she and her sisters liked their anonymity.

Sandy, the shortest, struggled to see what was in the nook. He lifted himself up by the edge, and marveled at the reflective glass. It reminded him so much of the water... For a moment, he could've sworn he saw that blue-eyed, cloaked figure from long ago, reflected in the glaze. But when he surprisedly turned around, they were gone.

The box wasn't locked with a key. It was a strange design, like a sliding puzzle. At first glance, it looked like a flower, a water lily. But when examined a little closer, you could tell it was supposed to be some sort of swirl.

Sapphire sighed melancholily. She knew how to open it, but she couldn't reveal herself. So, perhaps a little help...

"Vat is this?" North scratched his beard as the Guardians solemnly approached the carved window. It was more like an altar. "Do you think..."

Jack leaned against his staff seriously. "I think that whatever this 'relic' is, it's in there."

Tooth fluttered around them. "Where's the key?"

North examined the box curiously. "There is no key. It is a special lock. And a very good vun at that!" He was impressed with the workmanship.

Bunny handled his boomerang. "Should we break it open?" Sandy punched him.

Jack glanced back at the strange altar, and jumped up, surprised. Where the box had sat a moment ago, there was a water lily. It seemed to have come straight from the pool, it was still dripping. "Maybe that's a clue." He pointed at the flower. On a whim, he reached into the flower, and from the center, pulled out a small coin. It was shaped in a swirly, wavy circle. It looked similar to the jumbled pieces of the lock, except for two knobbed lines running through it.

Sandy scratched his head, thinking.

Tooth studied the coin. "I think it's supposed to be a key to the puzzle." Jack shook his head and pointed at the two lines on the coin. "But these, they're not in the lock."

North cocked his head thoughtfully. "One of these things is not like the others."

Bunny jumped up, with a new revelation. "Okay, what do we know about Ci'el?"

Jack thought a moment. "He likes water."

Sandy made an image of an a paintbrush and paints. Bunny nodded. "Yeah, art."

Tooth looked around Ci'el's stronghold. "Reading, peace, and..."

The Guardians whirled around at the clatter of something falling to the marble ground. They saw the knitting needles lying next to the pillow rolling on the ground, and the faintest shadow against the wall.

"Knitting." Tooth murmured. Bunny tapped his foot anxiously. "Knitting. See, I just don't get that." The other guardians turned to him apprehensively. Bunny rolled his eyes. "I mean, I get if you enjoy knitting, but... Ci'el has a whole trunk full of art supplies, and hangs them on his walls. Half of his place is a library, but the knitting needles? I don't see any projects, or even yarn for that matter!" He flipped the coin in the air. "I think these knobby lines here are the needles."

Jack ran to the pillow where the knitting needles lay, and cautiously picked them up, running back to the Guardians.

He inserted them into two gaps in the lock. They made a satisfying click.

Then, the needles began to move by themselves. The Guardians surrounded the locked box as the strange mechanisms moved by themselves, sliding and inserting themselves into their place. Finally, the lock was complete, and the needles went sideways in the lock, just like on the coin. The slid outward, and the box opened. The lock made a swirl shape.

And sitting in the box, with not even a speck of dust, was an amethyst amulet of the deepest blue. It seemed to glow softly. Sandy lifted it out and held it in his hand. He made a question mark over his head.

North scratched his head. "I don't know, Sandy." He then noticed a leather satchel that he didn't see before resting right next to his foot. Odd place for a satchel to be...

He opened the satchel and held it out to Sandy, who dropped the amulet in there for safe keeping. Sandy looked inside the bag curiously, and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He made an excited shape above his head...

"You found another map!" Jack exclaimed.

* * *

Sapphire was content. But she had to remain melancholy, at least, until they left the stronghold. Finding this place again... it had brought back most of her memories. She could only hope that the Guardians would be able to help her other sisters...

She walked out of the stronghold and crawled under the sleigh to stowaway, the same way she got here. Now it was Scarlet's turn. It was time to get angry...

* * *

Pitch chuckled as he watched the Guardians from the shadows. Such "progress" they were making! They thought they were one step ahead of the game, finding Sapphire's amulet before him. But they could not use it. The only ones who knew how to access its power were him and... Ci'el. Uugh!

But no worries. He had broken Ci'el's spirit long ago. Sure she escaped, but when he got his hands on her, she would not be able to fight back. That was certain.

So run around, little guardians. He smiled evilly. Go play your little games, search for a way to beat me. You are only bringing me one step closer to victory...

* * *

"You sure this is the place?" a sleighsick Bunny looked around the new environment uneasily.

North knitted his brow. "Yes, I am certain. This is the place the map leads."

Jack huddled in the sleigh, not wanting to come out. "It's a little... warm."

Tooth fluttered contentedly. "It's not that bad!"

Sandy made a picture of a sun and moon over his head.

North shrugged. "It does seem a bit... different from the last place."

Bunny facepalmed. "This is nothing like that little mountain grove! I mean, this place could belong to a completely different person!" He waved his hand around. "Look at it!"

Bunny had a point. The sanctuary at Mount Fuji was a far cry, heck, completely opposite from this volcano.


	9. Chapter 9

"I really think it would be safer if someone guards the sleigh." Jack's skinny arms were wrapped around the railing of Santa's sleigh, refusing to let go.

Bunny and Tooth were each pulling on a leg to get him to let go.

"I'm not going!" he moaned. "It's too hot."

North groaned. This had been going on for half an hour. It was time to stop. "Please, please! My friends! Jack is right. As a winter spirit, he is not suited very vell at all for this climate. For his own safety, he should stay in the sleigh."

Tooth fluttered anxiously. "But what if Pitch comes?"

Jack rolled his eyes.

Sandy made a punching motion.

With that, the original four guardians began the climb to the top of the active volcano.

* * *

Scarlet didn't remember coming here before, but it all seemed so familiar. She felt something fiery and bright stirring within her. Boldly, she followed the unsuspecting Guardians up to the volcano, where she was sure she would find answers.

* * *

A large-ish rock fell from above, and hit Tooth on the head. She fell with a thud and groaned. Bunny bounded up to her and helped her up. He inspected her head for a moment. "Meh, it's just a bump. You'll be fine."

Tooth nodded and shivered a little from the bruise. Bunny looked up at the rocky volcano. "But from here on out, we oughtta be careful." He looked back at Tooth, and he gasped. Behind her, for a moment, he could've sworn...

He had seen a small girl, dressed in a beige hood and gray dress, standing, holding out a small, red glowing hand. He hadn't seen her face, but he had seen her eyes. They were a bright, fiery amber almost orange, flickering like flames.

But just as soon as he had seen her, she had disappeared into thin air.

Sandy poked the pooka in the arm and made a question mark.

Bunny shook his head. "Nothing."

* * *

Aside from the first incident, there were no accidents, despite the treacherous conditions of climbing the volcano. Boulders and rocks of various sizes fell all around them, threatening disaster. The path winding around the fiery mountain was little more than a ledge, a little more than a foot wide. One wrong step could've spelled disaster. And the heat was unbearable! It was fortunate that they had left Jack in the sleigh, otherwise he would've been little more than a puddle. Less than halfway up, Tooth was unable to fly, and North shed his fur coat. He never took his coat off outside of the workshop.

Finally, they reached the lid of the volcano. The rock covering the lip of the volcano was particularly thin, and covered in a fine layer of ash. The Lava below bubbled and spluttered and steamed like a soup, and the steam wafting up from the magma felt like Death Valley.

Bunny tapped his foot nervously against the black powder. "Are you SURE this is the right place, mate?"

North scowled. "Yes I'm sure! I checked, and I checked tvice!"

Sandy face-palmed.

Tooth peered at the other side of the volcano, and narrowed her eyes. "What's that?" she said, pointing.

Sandy squinted off to where Tooth was pointing, at a tube that went down into the volcano. He excitedly made an image of a door over his head.

"You're right, mate!" Bunny's ears perked up. "I think we have ourselves an entrance!"

* * *

Jack lounged boredly in the sleigh, struggling to keep his inner coldness. The reindeer didn't seem to like the hot climate any better than he did, but that seemed to be about all they shared.

Sitting around her was so BORING! He needed to be doing something, making snowflakes! Finding Pitch! Helping the Guardians! Freezing the abominative mountain!

He really didn't like the volcano.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that shouldn't be there...

A shadow.

The shadow laughed, and grew over the volcano.

Jack immediately went flying to the top of the volcano. He had to warn the Guardians.

* * *

The tube was apparently some sort of elevator. The trick was opening it. No matter how much they banged it, they couldn't break the glass the tube was made of. It must've been some sort of reinforced polymer something-or-other, according to North- a bit advanced for someone who lived in the 5th century. There must have been some sort of mechanism, some sort of trick-

A soft breeze wafted across the volcano, not cold, not warm, just a mellow breeze. It blew away the ash covering the rocky ground. Bunny leaped up, surprised, when he saw the various plates covering the ground. They were all silver, and about a foot square.

"It must be opened by activating a pressure plate, or somethin'." Bunny muttered. Sandy tested one of the plates with his hands. It moved up and down.

Curiously, North stepped onto a plate a few feet away from the elevator. He yelped and jumped back. He started hopping up and down. "What's wrong?" Tooth fluttered a little closer.

"It burned me!"

Sandy froze as he was about to step onto a plate in front of him, and glanced at it nervously. North looked at the elevator and gasped. The doors had opened partway, and were closing again. Sandy hovered to the elevator quickly to grab the doors, but they closed before he could get to them.

Tooth laid a finger on her chin. "Maybe that's it! It's this plate!"

Bunny scoffed. "It burned North, and it needs to stay down to open the doors! How do we-"

Sandy pushed a boulder that had been conveniently sitting next to the elevator onto the plate. The doors opened. Calmly, he walked in and pulled a red lever. The doors locked in place. The boulder rolled away on its own.

Bunny huffed. "Well, I guess that's one way to do it."

* * *

Jack was sweating terribly by the time he reached the top. He felt he would collapse at any moment.

Tired, he rested against a boulder. The boulder shifted under his weight onto a metal plate, and the doors to an elevator opened up. He figured that this was the way to Ci'el's second stronghold, and that's where the Guardians would be. At least, that was where Pitch would be heading.

So

Down

The

Elevator

He

Went...

* * *

The four guardians could only marvel at the difference between the Grove Stronghold and the Volcano Stronghold. While they were like night and day, the two hideaways were remarkably similar. Where there was a rustic staircase, there was an elevator. Where there had been a pool of water, there was a pool of lava, with obsidian stepping stones. Where there was blue, there was red. While the Grove had walls decorated with mosaics, the Volcano walls were covered with writing, strange writing, in what seemed like another language.

The stronghold was fan shaped, just like the other one.

It had bookshelves along the same wall. It had a large table in the same place, and a strong, locked chest in the same position. It had a comfortable looking pillow in the corner.

But the two were drastically different.

Rather than art decorating the walls, it was lined with sophisticated looking computers that whizzed and whirred as if their owner had left to get a glass of water. Empty beakers covered the table, along with a stack of notebooks with a different language scrawled hurriedly in them.

Closer examination revealed that the books in the bookshelves were books of knowledge rather than fiction, the chest was filled with bottles of chemicals and wires and circuit boards, and there was a loom tucked underneath the pillow.

This made the guardians quizzical. This was obviously Ci'el's stronghold, but the way it was decorated, it seemed to belong to a completely different person!

And the whole essence of the place... it made them feel...

* * *

Angry. That's what Scarlet felt. Anything else, and her sisters would show up. Anger was her anchor, the only thing tying her into consciousness.

And there was plenty of things to be angry about.

So when she found out that the demon himself, Pitch Black, planned on infiltrating her home, it only gave her more presence of mind.

She thought about things in a logical way; there was nothing she could do to stop him without revealing herself and/or getting someone killed, most likely herself.

So, in order to have any sort of advantage, she would have to help the guardians retrieve her amulet before Pitch. It would keep the advantage away from him- or, at least, keep him from gaining any other advantages.

Scarlet helped the Guardians open up the elevator. Her sister, Sapphire, had helped them open her own amulet box, and Sage had warned them in her own secretive way about Pitch.

And Sepia... well, Sepia hadn't been out much. Just enough to stretch her legs, but she was still weak, much too weak.

They were all weak. Their lack of memory had hit them all hard. Had they been at full power, Pitch would've been ash long ago- at least, if Scarlet had her way. Sapphire and Sepia would never let her do that.

Though none of them would admit it, not even to each other, without those amulets, they were dwindling away.

So the Guardians really, really, REALLY needed to pick up the pace...

* * *

There was an altar in the back of the room, a carved niche just like at the grove. The candles on either side flickered to life with bright red flame when the Guardians approached. There was the carved box. It was closed firmly, and instead of a lock, there were criss-crossed grooves all along the box.

Tooth tapped her chin. "Maybe we use the crafty thing on the pillow, like last time?"

Sandy made a picture of the loom, and compared it to the box. He made an X across the idea.

North studied the box with a careful eye. "Yes, there is no way we could fit the loom into any of these mechanisms. It's too big."

Sandy thought for a moment and excitedly made an animated image of strings crisscrossing, and weaving together.

Bunny scratched a long ear. "It's a good idea, but how would we do that?"

North raised an eyebrow. He had not understood.

Bunny sighed. "Sandy here was sayin' that the criss cross patterns here, see, look like the weaving ya do on a loom. But the problem there, is that there's nothing to weave into it!"

There was a hot breeze, and for the first time, the Guardians noticed a long strip of leather, several meters long, curled up on the altar. How had they not noticed it before?

But no matter, they had the key to the lock.

Tooth gingerly slid one end of the leather into one of the carved grooves and fed the strip into it. When it had wrapped around the box once, it took on a mind of its own.

The leather snaked around the box, spiraling, and then wove around itself again, filling every crisscross carving.

When the leather was done, a slit appeared around the box, the opening, glowing red. The leather was now fused with the box.

The lid flipped open.

Lying on the inside of the box, glowing with a fire within, was a brilliant red ruby amulet.


	10. Chapter 10

_The amulet gave him power..._

_He could feel the fear around him..._

_It enhanced his senses..._

_He could see the guardians..._

_and feel the power of the amulet..._

_Time to strike..._

* * *

The elevator dinged open, surprising the four guardians. Jack, sweating and panting heavily, flew as far as he could, just clearing the lava pool. The guardians rushed to the winter spirit and caught him before he passed out. He was gasping for air.

Tooth gasped. "Jack! What are you doing here?"

Jack coughed and pointed at the shadows. "Pitch."

As he uttered the cursed name, the shadows grew, and the golden eyes glowed. The dark man walked out of the shadows. He grinned a Cheshire cat grin and spoke one word.

"Boo!"

* * *

_Scarlet could feel the fear._

_She didn't like it._

_She was angry. She could feel the fire. She needed it._

_Scarlett breathed. There was an easy way and a hard way to go about this._

_Easy, she revealed herself and her sisters, and probably destroyed half the continent._

_Hard, she kept her anonymity and that half of the continent, but lost, and destroyed the other half of the continent._

_So she picked the third route._

* * *

"Do you know the thing about fire?" Pitch smirked. "A shadow always follows it."

The Guardians had their weapons raised, though Jack was weak, and they were all sweating from the heat of the volcano. Shadows and nightmare sand swarmed the walls, began to block out the fire.

"Vat do you vant, Pitch?" North spat the name.

Pitch held out his hand softly. "I am simply coming to claim what is mine." He narrowed his golden eyes. "The amulet."

Bunny held his boomerangs menacingly. "What amulet?" he bluffed.

Pitch laughed. "Oh, you silly Guardians! You think you stand a chance this time. I will get Ci'el's power. I know you have the other two amulets. Not that you have any use for them..."

Tooth furrowed her brow, confused. "What do you mean?"

Pitch froze in mock surprise. "You mean, you didn't know?" he laughed. "You cannot use the amulets' power unless you are Ci'el... or me." He lovingly fingered the moonstone amulet hidden under his tunic- dress- robe- _okay, seriously, what the heck is that thing? _Scarlett muttered under her breath.

To the Guardians, it seemed like Pitch had suddenly looked up and smiled to empty air. "Ah, and there is the matter of my old friend, Ci'el..."

The Guardians tightened their stances. "So tricky, so cunning! Yet has no spine, could never stand up to me..."

Scarlett screamed in rage and lit the rope she had tied above the door with a small candle flame.

Pitch was unsurprised by her outrage, but his eyes widened when he looked up and saw the chandelier falling towards him.

**_CRASH!_**

He lay dazed on the floor.

The Guardians looked around, surprised. Where had that come from?

"Ci'el?" Pitch stunnedly groaned from the ground.

Bunny looked around. For a moment, he could've sworn he saw a pair of fiery amber eyes amidst the shadows. And then they were gone.

The nightmare sand began to swirl around faster and faster. The Guardians nervously watched, trying to remain brave.

Scarlett stood behind them, and lit her hands softly.

Slowly, but surely, the Guardians stood up tall and glared at the nightmares bravely.

Sandy made a punching motion at the sand and flicked some of his whips at them, turning them back to dream sand. Bunny threw his boomerangs, and Tooth flew straight through the sand, dispersing them. As a few nightmares jumped at North and Jack, Jack raised his staff to block them, and North struck them with his scimitars.

Scarlett screamed and the light from the lava grew brighter, and the black sand disappeared.

The Guardians looked around, surprised that the fight was over. Sandman looked around, a question mark over his head.

Weary, and, frankly, looking kinda sick, Jack propped himself up on his staff.

Scarlett scratched her head under her hood. What now? She silently snapped her fingers. She pulled a piece of paper from the pocket of her dress, and used a lit finger as a charcoal drawing stick...

"What's this?" North leaned down and picked up a piece of paper he had not noticed before. Tooth fluttered over his shoulder. "It's... another map?"

Bunny scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Well, THAT certainly is convenient."

Gasping, Jack nodded and shrugged.

Sandy made an image of a snowflake, and a thermometer.

North nodded and turned to Jack. "Ve need to get you to the pole."

Jack coughed and shrugged.

Tooth's face grew red. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" she yelled.

Jack winced and shrugged. "IT'S A VOLCANO! WE LEFT YOU IN THE SLEIGH FOR A REASON! YOU COULD'VE BEEN KILLED! IF NOT BY PITCH, THEN BY THE HEAT!"

Jack stumbled backwards and Tooth kept advancing. "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME! NOW WE HAVE TO GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE POLE WHILE PITCH IS-" Tooth tripped over a rock that had appeared out of nowhere and fell on her face.

Without thinking, Sage laughed, and Jack chuckled.


	11. Chapter 11

_Pitch rubbed his wounds angrily. So, Ci'el had returned..._

_He had only seen a glimmer of her, more like a pale shade of her. Did that mean she was weak?_

_One thing was for sure. The next time he saw her, THERE WOULD BE NO MERCY._

* * *

The moment the sleigh reached the Arctic Circle, Bunny tossed Jack into a pile of snow, covering him from head to toe. He popped out again, white and healthy. They continued on to the North Pole to regroup. Tooth was still angry at Jack.

"You really shouldn't have gone up there, Jack."

He just hung his head ashamedly. He would've done it anyways, but it still hurt.

"You could've been killed! We've been fighting off Pitch and his fearlings far longer than you have, Jack. We can handle ourselves."

North placed a cautionary hand on the fairy's shoulder.

Scarlet, in turn, avoided her. For her own sake.

Not that anyone noticed.

Bunny stood up exasperatedly. "Frostbite was trying to help. You're being positively ungrateful!"

Scarlet crossed her arms and leaned against the globe. "That sounds like horrible grammar."

Sandy patted Jack on the back and gave him a thumbs up, thanking him.

"No problem, Sandman."

North stroked his beard, deep in thought. "Does anyvun else think that this is too easy?"

Jack swung his staff over his shoulder. "You mean aside from conveniently placed maps and escaping unharmed from a full on encounter with Pitch Black?"

Bunny sat on a table and grumbled. "It does all seem a bit... convenient."

"Could it be a trap from Pitch?" Tooth asked.

Sandy made images. "Or maybe Ci'el?"

Bunny crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "If Ci'el were willing to help, he woulda showed up by now. Face it dingoes, he's a no show."

For a moment, Scarlet wanted to incinerate the Pooka. Then she lowered her head and reverted to Sapphire. Sapphire released a single tear, thought of a joke, and was Sage.

Sage sighed, and giggled again. Life was so confusing.

"But is very strange, no?" North gestured to the globe. "You vere all summoned here, but not by me! Ve find these maps, just lying there. Pitch attacks us, and is stopped by chandelier?" He guffawed. "Is no coincidence!"

Jack jumped up. "Coincidence or not, we have to keep going! Every second we waste is a second Pitch gets closer to finding the last two relics, and the world goes."

Tooth looked at Jack for a moment, concern and anger still bright on her face. "You're right. We need to keep going. But Jack? You need to stay here."

Jack's eyes widened and his mouth hung open. Sandy looked up at the fairy, surprised.

She crossed her arms. "You heard me! It's... a strategy! Pitch will probably come here next. Jack can be here to guard it."

North raised his eyebrows and Bunny laughed in disbelief. "You're just trying to keep him off the front line-"

Jack raised a hand in submission. "Naw, it's alright. I can hold down the fort."

Sandy shook his head and tried to encourage him to come with them.

Jack shrugged and sat down on the table, staff planted firmly on the ground. "It's fine. I mean, you guys don't need me. I guess I should make myself useful somehow, you know?" He looked at them, challenging them to argue.

Bunny groaned. "Dang it, Sheila! Fine, have fun." The four guardians grudgingly went to the sleigh.

A circle of frost grew around Jack, but he just lay on his back, looking at the light patterns streaming through the windows.

Sage tried to keep her cheerful demeanor as she watched the sad scene. She had to, because she really needed to be somewhere right about now...

Her mind made up, she flew away.

* * *

The map led to the Redwood Forest in California. It's a strange thing to whizz over land, seeing little trees and bushes, barely over 10 feet high, passing under your feet at a million miles an hours, and then suddenly to see a massive cherry-colored trunk tower above you.

Sandy made images over his head: a clock, a cane, a calendar...

Tooth nodded. "These Redwood trees are over 2,000 years old!"

North stroked his beard as they weaved in and out of the red towers. "Ci'el vould've seen them as saplings. It does make sense that he vould hide a relic here, with wooden soldiers to tower over it, for 2,000 years."

Bunny patted his arm. "Wow. That was real... poetic, mate."

He shook off the paw. "Ba, ve are vasting time." He whipped up the reindeer to go faster, sending Bunny into a deeper shade of green.

The Redwood forest spanned over 112,000 acres, and the four guardians had only a map to go off of. This would take a while.


	12. Chapter 12

"So... Phil? How goes things?" the yeti had a blank look on his face.

Jack sighed, bored. Without the guardians around, the pole could be SO BORING.

He went down the list in his head.

"Froze a couple of elves... glued North's furniture to the ceiling... ate some cookies, threw some snowballs..."

Frankly, he was running out of options. There was no way he was desperate enough to go for the huge library around him for entertainment; he wasn't that desperate. At least, not yet.

His gaze finally landed on the two unlocked boxes they had retrieved from the volcano in Central America, and the pond in the Himalayas. Those two amulets were driving him insane with curiosity.

Finally, if only to have something to do, he opened the boxes...

He immediately raced to the California Redwood Forest.

* * *

Sage leapt from branch to branch in the tall, tall trees.

She didn't remember putting her hideout here... but she had to admit, she'd chosen well. She doubted that there were taller trees in the world!

Thought: "I think these trees were smaller when I first saw them... yes! I made them bigger... can I do that?"

Sage laughed at her own confusion. That's right, keep laughing. Stay in control.

Back to the hideout... yes, I took a left here, and a right there...

"Thank you, Sepia!" Sage murmured. Her sister was helping her remember.

Though she had her amulet now, specific memories, important memories, were still just beyond her reckoning. Like how to get home.

Next tree branch: LEAP! Being a squirrel was fun!

Her tiny paws left behind a cluster of fresh, jade leaves in her wake.

* * *

"This could take all day." Bunny muttered, swatting away mosquitos.

They had been forced to land the sleigh after the reindeer nearly passed out from exhaustion.

Sandy was making himself perfectly comfortable, with a pair of gold-sand-sunglasses, and a beach hat to keep the hot sun off of his head.

It was already well into the afternoon, and they had barely covered a tenth of the forest.

North looked up at the Pooka and scowled. "If it takes all day, it takes all day."

Tooth, who had been checking the branches, was getting irritable. "There has to be an easier way to do this."

Sandy made an image of a map.

Bunny, who'd been entrusted with the old paper, shook it angrily. "It's all dashes and circles and x's! It's not even a real map!"

Sandy glanced at it. Indeed, it looked like it had been drawn in... crayon? The only reason they knew to come to the Redwood Forest was because the words 'Redwood Forest' were literally written in big letters at the top of the parchment.

North snuck a hesitant peek at the "map."

"Hmm." he stroked his beard. "Perhaps- it is just a fluke."

Tooth wanted to bang her head against something. "We can't just give up! Pitch is searching for the relics, and this is our only lead!"

"Chitter-chitter."

Bunny looked up to see a squirrel on a tree branch, directly on eye level with him. It cocked its head at him, amused.

"What are you lookin' at?" he muttered.

The chittering, green-eyed squirrel seemed to laugh. Bunny scowled and tried to shoo off the squirrel with a large paw.

However, the squirrel did not comply.

Instead, it attacked.

North and Sandy chuckled as the squirrel scratched and kicked and generally annoyed the large rabbit in the face until Tooth finally stepped in and pulled the chittering squirrel off of him.

Tooth anxiously held the cute, menacing squirrel as far away from her as her arms would allow, until in squirmed free and landed on the dropped map.

North's eyes widened as the squirrel's muddy paws dirtied the paper. "Oh dear. That cannot be good."

"Oi!" Bunny shook a paw at the squirrel. He started to yell at the squirrel in the animal language, which, being a rabbit, he would know.

The squirrel cocked its head and chattered.

Bunny furrowed his brow and stomped his foot. "Whaddya mean, extra boost?"

The squirrel laughed and scampered into the forest, leaving a ruined map.

Or was it ruined?

Sandy hesitantly picked up the altered map, and if he could make noise, he would've gasped.

The mud of the squirrel's paws had filled in the blanks of the map.

* * *

_Soon, Ci'el._

_Soon, you shall be forced to face me. _

_No longer can you hide behind your pawns and your tricks and your frivolities._

_The battle is coming, my old friend._

_And we both know that you could never win._

_:D_


	13. Chapter 13

Jack flew over the forest, getting a little sweaty. How was he going to find the Guardians? It would take them all day just to find the stronghold, and they were moving around! How long would it take him to find them?

He suddenly noticed something strange in the trees; plants.

Not just regular plants. These were green, greener than anything he'd ever seen, greener than the freshest leaves, almost a radioactive color! And they all formed a path, deeper and deeper into the redwood forest... He followed it.

* * *

"A complete map!" North whispered reverently.

It was as if the squirrel had drawn out the route with his paws, and for that, Bunnymund could almost forgive the rodent.

"Well, c'mon then." The Guardians hurried along the route the new map showed.

It was easy to tell that this was, in fact, the right path. At every bend, there were clusters of fresh, green leaves, standing out starkly against the red trunks of the trees.

"There's one thing I don't get..." Bunny started after a while.

"Ci'el has to be dead, otherwise he'd have come to us, talked to us or somethin'."

Tooth fluttered uneasily. "Yes."

"So, if that's true, then what's with all these coincidences? The maps, the squirrel? I'm starting to think something's up."

North stroked his beard thoughtfully. "It is clear that something is guiding us. If it is Ci'el, then vhy has he not made himself known to us? If it's not Ci'el..."

Sandy grimly made an image of the dark lord himself.

Bunny's ears twitched. "Could it be? I mean, it doesn't make sense."

Tooth buzzed anxiously. "He could be trying to steal the relics for himself. Or maybe the relics aren't even important, maybe it's all just a distraction!"

North sighed. "It does not matter. Even if this is a trap, ve have nothing else to go on. If it is Pitch 'helping' us, then he holds all the cards."

Bunny nudged the Russian in the shoulder. "That doesn't mean we can't beat him at his own game!"

* * *

Sepia couldn't see. She had come out for a moment, just a moment, and then she had been frightened away again. Sage would appreciate the irony.

Sapphire and Scarlet had been so close to coming back, so close... and then Sepia could feel them slip away again. They were with her, and she was far, far away from where she was supposed to be.

Scarlet had hoped she'd never have to say it, but... it was all up to Sage now.

Sapphire worried, but Sepia still had a glimmer of faith, maybe just enough to bring her and her sisters to victory...

Oh! Pitch was on the move again. Why oh why did he always drag her along...

* * *

Bunny approved of the tribal looking stone carvings, rough and rustic, etched into the cliff face.

Rough stepping stones framed swirly bears and cats and lizards, Dinosaurs and dragons and unicorns. It wasn't terribly detailed, but event the smallest carved fruit fly had beady little bug eyes. The bright green leaves, and the map, led straight here.

Tooth ran her slim fingers along the deep grooves. "Is there a door somewhere?" she murmured.

Sandy was entranced by the animals and the vines, and stared up at them in awe.

North ran squinted eyes over the smooth rock, searching for any tell-tale groove, or a key hole. But the carvings were soooo distracting... He found himself following the choppy vines around and in between the magnificent creatures, until they wove around...

There was a blank space of rock, nothing carved, about a half foot square, and all of the vines convened right around it.

He pressed a large hand to the small space, as if expecting to find a knob, or a key hole. Sandy noticed the large Russian and cocked his head at the rock space.

Bunny was distracted from the rock carvings by a lighthearted chittering. He looked up, and clutching the side of a carving, looking down at him with mocking green eyes, was the squirrel.

"Oi, you!" he growled, and pulled out a little rock to throw it at the rodent. Tooth gasped and grabbed his paw. "E. Aster Bunnymund, what do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked. The squirrel seemed to smile. It scurried down and leaped onto Tooth's shoulder. She smiled and scratched the little guy's head.

"His name is 'E. Aster'? Seriously?" An amused voice sounded from a tree.

Tooth gasped, and the squirrel scurried away from the red-faced fairy. "Jack Frost, what in Mim's name are you doing here?"

Jack leaped down and looked apologetic. He sunk his head a little, and then turned to North. "The amulets are gone."

Tooth jumped up. "What happened? What did you do?"

Jack paled. "I didn't do anything, I swear! I was just 'watching the workshop,' like you said-" North held up a silencing hand, and rested it on Jack's shoulder. "Jack, what happened?"

Jack shrugged. "I was watching the workshop, got bored, and when I checked the box, it was empty. I came straight here, and that's it."

Bunny's fur instantly stood straight up. He felt uneasy. The squirrel had scampered off to somewhere else. He sniffed the air and tapped his large foot nervously.

"Jack... ya say you came straight here?"

Jack nodded.

"And... ya sure ya weren't followed?"

Jack froze.

It might've been their imaginations, but it seemed as if the shadows had become more menacing, and the temperature dropped a few degrees, though that might've been Jack. The birds stopped twittering, and the leaves lost a little color.

Weapons were drawn, and battle stances assumed.

"You shouldn't have come." Tooth whispered to Jack. He glared at her. "And leave you guys out to dry?"

The anxious chatter of a squirrel was heard- from the other side of the rock. The squirrel poked half its body out from the eye hole of a stork, and chattered, as if expecting the Guardians to respond.

It ducked inside, and the strangest thing happened...

As the shadows grew, the vines woven through the stone glowed, and grew, wrapping around the empty piece of rock, and grew into a simple stone knob.

North grabbed it, pulled open a simple sized door, and ushered in the Guardians. The shadows enveloped the rock face just as the door slammed shut.


	14. Chapter 14

_Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Did she really think she could hold her own against me?_

_Did she really think she could hold against my might?_

_I now knock against her very door, ready to strike..._

_Ever ready to strike..._

_Run, little girl, run, and feel the pain, the anger, the sorrow, the fear..._

* * *

This stronghold was rather simple compared to the other two. The ceiling wasn't very high, and there wasn't much wall decoration other than the fresh, wet moss.

The hall that stretched before the Guardians was stone, only wide enough for two people, or one fat person, in a line. The Guardians walked down at a fast pace, looking over their shoulders, as the angry sounds echoed through the hall. It sounded like a fist pounding against the door. The fist seemed to be impossibly strong, but somehow the door held.

The Guardians breathed a sigh of relief, and now took notice of the massive stronghold before them. If the volcano and mountain strongholds were like polar opposites, this one was completely different from the others.

Everything was natural; there were green trees with sparkling leaves, and a cool, running stream. Steamy moss coated the stone walls. The trees formed a veritable jungle gym impossible to navigate, nearly impossible to see the sun.

It seemed that the green-eyed squirrel wasn't the only one to call this place home; lions and tigers and bears (oh, my!) lounged, tame. Wild and domestic goats and sheep alike pranced with the deer, and birds of every variety flitted to and fro. In the stream, there were fish of every color and size. Radiant flowers blossomed from the springy mint grass, so beautiful it seemed almost a crime to step on them.

In short, it was like Eden on earth.

Bunny seemed to fall in love with the place, and Jack certainly appreciated the fresh green. Tooth flitted around, amazing at the colored tail feathers of the cockatoos and the whiteness of the lions' teeth. North shed his fur coat, and Sandy fell asleep.

The place was calm, yet there was a sort of sense about the place... lighthearted and playful. At some point, Jack noticed it was the music. The Guardians explored the refuge, climbing trees, petting the animals, and picking flowers. Lingering in the back of their minds was the boogeyman literally knocking on their front door.

Wherever the amulet was, they had to find it.

The trees twisted and crossed almost methodically at one point, almost like a wall. Jack flew around the trees, to find a completely enclosed circle of trees.

"I think there's something through here." he pointed.

Bunny knocked on the trees. The knocks reverberated and echoed through the entire cavern. "Pockenholz," he said. "Lignum vitae, hardest wood known to man. Nothing's getting through that."

Their green eyed squirrel guide chattered to get their attention. It climbed up and over the trees, to the other side.

Jack rolled his eyes and flew up, Sandy and Tooth following after him.

Bunny groaned and leaned against the tree, North scratching his head uselessly. "We'll wait here." he called through the trees.

* * *

This seemed something like a teenager's bedroom, messy, uncoordinated, but it smelled nice. Like oak and pine.

A hammock was hung from one tree, a chest of knick-knacks leaned against another.

A large, round, flat rock stood in the center, blocks of clay and clay pots scattered around it. A pottery wheel.

Sitting on top of the pottery wheel was a stone sphere, unengraved except for a smooth crack around the circumference.

Tooth picked up the sphere and shook it.

Jack took it from her, ignoring her protests and dirty looks, and tried to unscrew it. It didn't work.

Sandy raised his finger and placed it on the pottery wheel. He fiddled under it for about a minute before finding the pedal. He rapidly began to press on the pedal, making it spin.

As the wheel spun, the sphere unscrewed in half.

Tooth shouted with joy and picked up the two halves. The first half was empty.

But in the second half...

A note in sloppy, childlike handwriting that read, "_You should've seen your faces!"_


	15. Chapter 15

Tooth glared at Jack. "Jack Frost, I swear, if this is one of your practical jokes-"

He held up his hands defensively. "No, Tooth, I swear! My handwriting is way better than that! And besides, how would I even pull this off?"

Sandy tugged on Jack's sleeve and pointed at the trees. Slowly, but steadily, gray-green sickness was climbing up the mossy trunks.

Bunny had wedged himself between two of the trees and was finally able to squeeze through, followed by North. "Ah, mates, we've got a problem."

The darkness of Pitch's shadows surrounded the ring of trees. Weapons were drawn, and the very air seemed to hold its breath. Sage stood in the very center of the ring of trees, next to the pottery wheel.

Vines swirled up and around the dying trees, strengthening them against the coming darkness.

Finally, the dark figure with the golden eyes appeared before the Guardians in a swirl of black sand. He grinned an evil Cheshire cat grin. "So. It comes to this. The last one."

"We're not letting you get the artifact!" Jack said bravely.

Sage remained silent, thinking.

Pitch attempted to step forward, but the grass pulled at his feet, making it very difficult. He sneered at Sage. "Why do you continue to protect them?"

North stood tall. "As long as there are children, we will protect their light. We will not allow you to rule with fear!"

Pitch ignored him. "I didn't see you during the Dark Wars." He paced dramatically. "Were you too scared to come out?"

Bunny lowered his ears angrily and raised a boomerang. "Say that again," he growled, "And we will end you."

Sage smiled brightly. "My sisters kept me from the front lines. I was reserved for Guerilla Warfare."

Pitch smirked. "Then I won't have much trouble with you."

This confused the Guardians.

Sage grinned. "You know, Scarlet and Sapphire kept me off the front lines for one reason. They wanted to beat you themselves. And letting me deal with you? Well... even Scarlet is too merciful for that."

Pitch narrowed his eyes.

He flicked a hand and created a great black spike. Immediately, the Guardians drew their weapons. The Giant spike elevated, pointed at the Guardians. As North unleashed a battle cry, the spike was released... and sailed over their heads. Sage flattened herself against the ground.

The Guardians attempted to attack Pitch Black, but he just waved them aside as he walked forward to capture his prey.

Sage stood up, eyes flashing a bright, merry green, ever sparkling. "Guerilla warfare." she hissed, and her body morphed into that of a green lion. She leaped forward, scratching Pitch across the torso, landing on her feet. Next, she was a rhino, running Pitch down into the ground.

The Guardians were confused, and slightly concerned about the state of Pitch's mental health. He seemed to be glaring at thin air, falling all over the ground for no reason. A spirit couldn't be involved, because even if one was without the belief of children, the other spirits could see them.

Pitch coughed as an emerald green boa constrictor wrapped around his chest, constricting his breath. Sage let up just before he could pass out. Pitch hissed and unleashed a powerful wave of black sand. Sandy protected the Guardians with his own dream sand, but Sage grew tall grass as a barrier. She slid three feet back.

Pitch heaved angrily. "I can end you! I can end all of you, right now!"

Sandy made a giant dinosaur out of golden dream sand, which he unleashed upon Pitch. He turned around, eyes widening, and dove to the left side.

Tooth stood tall. "You won't get the artifact. Not while we're here."

Pitch got a strange look on his face, and he burst out laughing. "The Artifact?" he spat. "You think I care about some amulet? I already have enough. And if you believed... oh, the irony! The Guardians, brought down because they didn't believe!"

"What are you talking about?" Jack growled.

"If there was any belief in your hearts," he hissed, "You would know why I'm here." Pitch drew a dark dagger and threw it, spinning, at Sage.

The Guardians gasped as the dagger disappeared.

Sage gasped as the dagger penetrated her left arm. Pitch smiled cruely, and shrunk into the shadows.

"What did he just do?" Jack looked around the forest nervously. Slowly, the trees were dying, going gray. The noises of the animals were growing silent.

Sage gritted her teeth against the pain. Pain, the irony. She needed pain to stay... but fortunately, now, she had other options. She grasped the red and blue amulets she had swiped off of Pitch. With any luck, (Now there was a joke, luck!) he wouldn't notice for a while. She closed her eyes and allowed a single tear to drip down her cheek. Sapphire opened her eyes. "Free..." she breathed. Glory! Freedom from the monster- no, she had to remain mournful. She had to stay. She felt her way through the trees, to a trickling stream. One arm hanging limp by her side, she waved her other hand, and a small orb of water rose. She waved it to her arm. The water glowed, and slowly the wound faded. She wouldn't be able to use it for a while, but she wouldn't die.

* * *

The Guardians were now just seriously confused. "What else is there to Pitch's plan than the amulets?!" Bunny cried. "He really didnt' seem to care!"

Tooth sat down. "There's something more at work here. He didn't even seem to notice us! And what did he mean about belief?"

Jack sighed. "What does Pitch know that we don't?"

Sapphire closed her eyes sadly. The bigger question was, what would a Guardian need to believe in?

Did she want to be believed in?


	16. Chapter 16

_Thousands of years ago, before there was any Guardian to protect the earth, before Pitch Black himself, there was the Man in the Moon..._

_And he was friends with a little girl named Ci'el._

* * *

Ci'el was a strange child. She would be sweet and tender one moment, and then would fly into an uncontrollable rage the next. As a young child, she never could decide on a favorite color, the way other children loved green or pink or blue or yellow or red. She never enjoyed a particular holiday or season, and she never had a favorite animal.

It wasn't because she was indifferent. It was because she loved them all so much that she could never choose one over the other.

But any people she came across feared her for her dramatically contrasting moods. They were very superstitious times, see, and people were wary enough of strangers.

She would scrape her knee, and start laughing wildly. She would become angry and violent and cold. She would stop at a well to take a drink, and start crying for no reason whatsoever. Whenever she stopped and studied someone's face, she suddenly became meek and terrified, afraid of her own shadow.

There were not as many people in the world in these days, and so the Man in the Moon found her easily, when she was ten years of age. He met her on a dark night, while she was climbing a tree looking for nuts. He said, "Hello."

She looked around in fear, suddenly terrified. She hid behind the branches of the tree. Again, the man in the moon said, "Hello," but more gently. She poked her little head out and said, "hello," in return. Timidly, unsure of what to do, Ci'el showed the moon the little colorful stones she had found the day before. There were four of them. The man in the moon smiled at the pure love and innocence in the child. From then on, they were good friends. They kept each other company, and the Moon protected Ci'el.

Ci'el traveled far and wide often, always searching for a place she could call home. I suppose that she could be called one of the first nomads. The reason for this was because, sadly, her parents had died when she was very young, and no one would take her in, for fear of her violent moods, her mental disorder. She had the moon now, but it was still dreadfully lonely, because he only showed his face when she slept.

The young girl one day came upon a city. This was one of the first city in this young, fresh world, and the people here were very proud about it. They were refined, and wore fine silks, and ate fresh bread and fruit and meat every night. They were educated, and could read and write. They wore fine jewelry and were allowed to idle away their days with pleasant games, and fishing, and tennis. Their building were tall and shining and made of gold and marble. They sung beautiful songs every night and painted watercolors that they hung in museums and galleries.

When Ci'el came upon this magnificent city, she was amazed, and terrified by its magnificence. It was such a rich life, one that other people in the world could only dream of! She decided that she would try to make a life for herself there. She found a little silver coin in the street, just a pence, and went to the baker's shop to buy bread. When she presented her little coin to the baker, he very nearly threw her out, he was so disgusted by her raggedy brown dress and cloak. But finally, he gave her a little roll of week-old bread. Though Ci'el did not get anywhere near her money's worth, it was still some of the best bread she had ever eaten.

When the man in the moon awoke that night, he was surprised to find Ci'el still wide awake. She was so excited to show the Man in the Moon the new city she had discovered. The Man in the Moon smiled and gazed his white face down on the rich city. He saw the wonders of the spacious buildings, and the despair of the slums and dark corners. He was not sure if this would be the best thing for his little friend... but she was so happy and excited, he couldn't argue with her.

By day, she would sweep up the dirty alleys and help remove garbage from street corners, and the garbage man would pay her a few pence so she could have bread and milk. The City's massive library wouldn't let her in, for her clothing was too unsightly, so she snuck in at night, and slowly learned to read letters and words as the Man in the Moon's light shone down through the glass ceiling. The city had a wonderful zoo which she could not enter, because of the high fee, so she would sneak into the zoo at night as well. There, the animals and the creatures were very friendly with her, and played with her. She had such fun!

As Ci'el grew older, she learned how to patch her dress and cloak, to scavenger herbs and nuts and berries, to cook them, and to survive the darker parts of the two-sided city. Though she grew older and wiser, and was still good friends with the moon, she was still as small, if not smaller, as she was when she had been ten years of age, though she was now thirteen. She was still the sweet, innocent girl with the frightening moods that she was all her life, and the people around her still feared her, but the moon still loved her. She slept in tree tops and swam in forests, learned to hunt small game and sometimes played with other small children. But then, one day, her life took a dark turn.

The city had always been surrounded by hordes of barbarian tribes, jealous of the city's wealth and greedy to take it for their own. If any citizen had the gall to pass the marble walls, the barbarians would attack them and beat them. Ci'el was protected by the moon on her outings, but she still feared them terribly.

One day, the Barbarian tribes finally looked past their feuds and disputes and differences and banded together against the city as one army. During the night, while the man in the moon had his face turned away from the world as a new moon, they attacked. They slaughtered people like pigs and burned down shops and homes. The people of the city grabbed what possessions they could take, and they screamed and fled the burning city. Ci'el awoke to the screaming and the flames and the battle, and was terrified for her life. She searched the night sky for her friend, but she only found the new moon. She picked herself up and ran for the marble city gates, into the woods.

She saw two children clutching each other in a burning home, scared for their lives. Their parents had abandoned them to the flames, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. Ci'el covered her mouth and nose with her hand and ran to the children. With surprising strength from her bony arms, she pulled them out of the wreckage, and urged them to run quickly. They followed her out the gates into the woods, the ruined city burning behind them. The children were faster than her, and when a sickly, burning tree landed on top of her, she found when she pulled herself out from under it that she couldn't walk without great difficulty. "Run!" she cried to the children as the battlecries of the barbarian hordes could be heard coming closer and closer...

* * *

The Man in the moon turned a sliver of his face to the earth just before dawn, and was horrified to see the city where his beloved friend lived had become ash, the people now mere corpses. He could not find his dear Ci'el among the dead in the city, so he turned his eye towards the woods. Far beyond the city, safe in a smaller village, he found a boy and a girl, clutching each other, covered in soot, and crying. He went back to the woods and searched. He followed the war path of the barbarians, where they had trampled down plants and trees, cutting down refugees. And finally, farthest from the dead city, he found his dear friend.

The barbarians had not been merciful. They fell the little girl with a deep gash to the stomach, and continually stabbed her in their bloodlust. They trampled her still form on their war path until she could no longer cry out in pain. The skies cried along with the heartbroken man in the moon, and washed the blood away from her cold body. Finally, after the soot and blood and pain had been washed from her corpse, one would almost believe that she was merely sleeping.

The Man in the Moon dried his tears and turned his full face to his dear friend. He knew he could not bear to part with her. He wanted to bring her back to life. And so he did. But even as her heart started beating again, and her chest began to rise and fall with breath, the Moon knew that he would merely be sentencing her to an eternity of despair and loneliness she had just tasted of in her mortal life. So he found the four little stones in her pocket, the one white as a moonstone, the rock as green as emerald, the blue one like an amethyst, and the stone as red as ruby, and he enchanted them to protect his little friend.

When Ci'el awoke, she was finally aware of all her emotions. She could easily separate them. She would always have her violent changes of mind and mood, but now she was aware of her anger and sadness, her joy and pain, her love and hate. In later years, she would always wonder if this was a good thing. The moon made her invisible to those that would hate and abuse her so as to protect from the pain she had suffered before. She always thanked the moon for this, she was always so dreadfully shy.

For the length of her days before the Darkest wars, she roamed the earth, helping all the ones she couldn't in life, and protecting those that couldn't protect themselves. People would often think of her in her contrasting moods as an entirely different person. And in her mind, they were. Sapphire, Sepia, Scarlet, and Sage. These were her sisters.

The moon was absolutely shattered when Pitch took his best friend from him.

It was for this reason that he created the Guardians, to look after the world while he couldn't, while he refused to communicate with the earth, while he mourned for his friend...


	17. Chapter 17

_I am still trapped..._

_Still used by the Dark one himself..._

_Still unseen..._

_Still unheard..._

_Help?_

_Would anyone help?_

* * *

Sapphire remained herself, sustained by the cries of Sepia on the wind. If anyone else had been able to hear her sister weep, they would have collapsed of anguish as well.

The Guardians had gone into an absolute frenzy, each scouring the earth for any leads, poring over ancient manuscripts, anything that would give them the slightest hint to the fourth and final amulet. Sapphire sat in a hard backed chair, unsure of what to do.

It didn't take long for her to realize that there was nothing more she could do. She needed Scarlet to help.

"_Well, then, let me out!" _she hissed.

Sapphire started to become anxious. She stood up and paced. How would she be able to? She concentrated on things she could be upset about. But those things only made her even sadder. She began to get frustrated, which nearly threw her out of her concentration. Good, keep going! Face and eyes reddening, she kicked a wall, hard. The Pain wasn't enough to bring out Sage, but enough to set off the torrent of rage that was Scarlet.

Excellent. Now to business.

There was no way that she could send the Guardians to retrieve the final artifact. Pitting Pitch against Sage had been a big enough gamble, she didn't want to dig her own grave.

How could she possibly retrieve her sister? By stealth? Not her strong suit, and Sage didn't follow orders well. Trickery? There was no way Pitch would ever willingly part with Sepia and her meager power. Overpower Pitch physically? HA! Fat Chance. Pitch had been difficult enough without his stolen power. With the harnessed power of Sepia under his wing, she and her other sisters could never overpower him.

But someone else had...

The Guardians! She had only been able to hear whispers through the air of Pitch's terrible defeat at the hands of the Guardians of Childhood. They drew their power from belief... Perhaps she had found a new ally. Perhaps now was the time to reveal herself.

But she couldn't.

No matter how she wished the Guardians could meet her, and that she could at least attempt to communicate with them, it would all be for naught. For though the Guardians relied on the belief of children, they had none themselves.

And Belief was something Ci'el desperately needed.

* * *

_Sepia had been able to protect her sisters by hiding them in their strongholds._

_There, they were safe from Pitch and all the evils of the world._

_But she, the last of the gems, had been caught. Brutally defeated. Shamefully captured, taken as a prize._

_And all her time spent as a prisoner, abused and harnessed for Pitch's own dastardly plans, she could hear the pains of the world._

_Every wound and fear, every cry in the night. Every time a heart broke, or a bone snapped, or a child shrieked, she could feel it tenfold upon her being. This was the curse, to feel the pain that she could have prevented, the horror that she failed to stop. Through wars and massacres, she was dragged. Plagues and famines tore at her viciously. _

_Hope? Was there such a thing? Joy? What was this? Light? She had not seen it for so long..._

_They say that the light at the end of the tunnel is more likely than not an oncoming train._

_Sepia had no idea what a train was, but surely, an end would be just as satisfying as salvation._


	18. Chapter 18

_A Red one to burn..._

_A Blue one to drown..._

_A Green one that is savage..._

_And a Gray one that is useless..._

_I shall take the White one..._

_The one that destroys them all..._

* * *

E. Aster Bunnymund was a stubborn old hare. He never let anyone push him, his holiday, the children, or his friends around. He was also a huge advocate of hope. Today, he was in a sort of conundrum. It might have been the hope speaking, or it might have been the stubbornness.

Pitch Black claimed that without belief, the Guardians had no hope. Not the belief of the children; the Guardians had to believe in something themselves.

This might have been the stubbornness speaking, but Bunny couldn't comprehend the idea that a Guardian would have to believe in something. They were pretty much the personification of belief, and they believed in pretty much everything, except the dark side. And the Loch Ness monster, it was mutually agreed that that was just ridiculous.

North, in his confusion, had turned to his massive library, and Jack lounged in the window seat. Sandy was making incomprehensible sand shapes to outline his own thinking process, and Tooth had gone on one of her stress-relieving tooth runs.

Bunnymund, meanwhile, was making an annoying sound as he paced his large feet back and forth... back and forth... back and forth...

They had lost the amulets, they couldn't forget that.

They also couldn't forget that Pitch was afraid of something. Something that clearly refused to show its face.

E. Aster Bunnymund was a stubborn old hare. If it was, in fact, Ci'el who was refusing to show his face, Bunny didn't want his help.

Jack finally got tired of Bunny's tireless pacing and threw a snowball in his face. Bunny snarled at him distractedly and went back to his musing.

Jack jumped up onto the back of the chair and banged his staff against the floor. "This is pointless!" he shouted.

The three present Guardians were surprised. "Jack, calm down." North muttered.

Jack laughed in disbelief. "What are we doing? Pitch is that much closer, that much more powerful, and we're sitting here twiddling our thumbs."

Bunny scowled. "We need to figure out Pitch's next move, frostbite! Get that through your head and maybe we can figure this out!"

For a moment- just a brief moment- he could've sworn that he felt something touch his shoulder. He whirled around, and he could've sworn he saw a person... but no, just air.

Much calmer, he continued. "We can't go rushing in blind. We have to figure out what Pitch's plan is so we can counteract."

Sandy hesitantly nodded in agreement.

Jack crossed his arms angrily. "You wanna know why Pitch is winning?"

North raised an eyebrow. "Who says he is vinning?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Because he doesn't have a plan. How do you think he got the amulets? He probably didn't even know where they were in the first place, he just took them from us!"

Bunny laughed hard. "Oh, yeah. That's Pitch's plan? Yeah, hit the nail on the head, Frostbite." He stopped at the other Guardians' thoughtful expressions. "What- you're not serious?!"

North stroked his beard. "Such deviousness is Pitch's MO."

Bunny groaned and closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead. "So, what does that mean? Our move?"

Sandy raised a finger and shook his head rapidly. He made an image of an amulet.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, there's one more amulet. If Pitch gets it, he wins. He already has the other three- the two we found, and the one from the Redwood forest."

Tooth finally returned from her tooth run, now revitalized and eager. "What'd I miss?"

Bunny pointed an accusing paw at Jack. "Frostbite here says that we've been playing into Pitch's hands the whole time!"

Jack scowled. "Because WE HAVE!" he yelled.

Tooth looked between the two anxiously. "Well, we have to find the last amulet, right?"

Jack pulled his hood over his head. "I think that wherever it is, it should stay there. It's been safe this long, if we move it, then we'll just be handing it right over to Pitch." Fed up with the whole thing, Jack flew out an open window and headed to Burgess.


	19. Chapter 19

No one could accuse Scarlet of being completely devoid of emotion. Her sisters often accused her of being the mastermind behind great wars, yes. And she supposed that was true. The raved at her for her aggressiveness and her stubbornness. She could not deny them this right; that was true also.

When people saw her, they saw anger, pride, and burning flames.

From a nonsubjective point of view, one could say that there was passion beneath that scalding exterior. A flaming passion.

The flaming passion in question was methodically following after the winter spirit known as Jack Frost to a small town called Burgess. It was easy to find, as Sage- or had it been a shade of Sepia? had visited the town only a few days ago. Had it really been only a few days? So much seemed to have transpired since her escape three days ago... How strange time was...

At this point, Scarlet knew that she- and her sisters- had to get Sepia back from Pitch. Personally, Scarlet didn't see what Pitch's fascination was with the gray girl, but she seemed to give him strength. By this same token, Pitch guarded her too well for her and her sisters to fight or trick him into giving her up. As much as it stung, Scarlet finally had to admit that she- and her sisters- needed help.

In the past, she had prided herself in the fact that not even the other spirits saw her, but she hadn't often bothered to acknowledge that it was because they COULDN'T see her. Humility tasted bitter in her mouth, but now, she had been force fed a heaping spoonful. She was practically on her knees, refusing to let Sapphire nor Sage assist her, all in a vain attempt to get one of the Guardians, who she supposed was their best bet, to notice her.

It's different than an invisible spirit trying to get a child to notice them. There are millions of children around the world- approximately 2 billion, in fact! A dime a dozen, you could try to convince any child of your existence, and you'd probably have more success, thanks to a child's natural willingness to believe. The reason why grownups don't believe is because as they grow, they see greater need for logic, and reason, and proof. Foolish concepts, I know. But over time, they begin to become set in certain ideas, things that are backed by proof. They become absolutely firm in their beliefs, and while Scarlet could admire their stubbornness and logical ways, she found it rather infuriating.

Wait. Was she like that? Hmm. Something to think about.

Now, take a grownup, and wait for them to mature 500 years. Even more ideas, some sheer nonsense, some even more logical than before, but by now, the concrete of their thoughts has set. No budging. Nope, nada.

Immortal spirits were worse than grownups, absolutely refusing to believe anything that wasn't right in front of their furry faces. Oh, sure, they might claim to be endowed with childlike spirits, etc., but honestly, the youngest spirit among them was Jack Frost, and he had been just on the precipice of adulthood when he became a spirit...

And suddenly Scarlet had her answer.

If she could get just one- just on Guardian to believe, they might all believe.

And she knew which one to start with.

This was how she found herself following the winter spirit to the little Virginia town, where she knew that Jack had young believers. Such strong believers... perhaps they could help? But no, that was too much of a hope.


	20. Chapter 20

Burgess. The sweet little colonial town where Jackson Overland Frost was born, grew up, died, and got his first believer. Jack wasn't sure which of the above kept him so attached to the seemingly insignificant little town. It might have been all of them, or it might have been an entirely different reason all together. Whatever the case, whenever he was upset or needed some time alone, this was the place to go. He'd had plenty of alone time here, after all.

What time of year was it? Was it an early spring this year? Hmmph. No such luck. Oh well, Jack could always stay at his little pond. The one where he died. For some reason, it always stayed frozen solid. He remembered once, a few years ago, some wacky ghost hunters or somesuch had come around to the pond to figure out why it was frozen. Honestly, did he look like a ghost?

Hmm. He supposed that he did.

And so, Jack spent the night pacing back and forth, feet unbothered by the freezing ice, mostly grumbling about the other Guardians, and trying to wrap his head around the current situation. Namely, how to fix it.

Scarlet, meanwhile, followed Jack as he paced. Occasionally, he bumped into her- or rather, through her- but he didn't seem to notice her discomfort.

So being annoying wouldn't work. She started turning to other strategies- trying to burn messages into the ice, throwing things at his face, and even almost setting a tree on fire. That would've gotten his attention.

But Sage wouldn't let her.

Sage and Sapphire contributed in small ways. Sage called forth small animals and grew plants to get his attention, but it still didnt' work. The plants only looked natural and springy, and she couldn't quite make them grow fast enough to be noticeable. Her heart wasn't quite in it.

The same went for Sapphire, who tried to manipulate the water in the pond. But she wasn't quite present enough for it to be effective. Jack just kept absentmindedly refreezing the little patches that melted.

Scarlet sat down and groaned in frustration. This was absolutely impossible! She might as well try-

She sat up straighter. If she was correct, Jack Frost's only believers lived in this town. And he was very attached to them. Quickly, she formed a plan...

* * *

Jamie Bennett was currently working on his Math homework; 216 divided by 3.

3 goes into 21 7 times...

goes into 6 twice...

72!

Jamie heard a faint tapping on his window. He turned around, surprised.

For a moment, he expected Jack Frost to be floating outside, with his magic blue snowballs ready. But then, to his dismay, he realized that it was spring, and getting a bit too warm for the winter spirit. He started to turn back to his homework.

812 divided by 4.

4 goes into 8 twice...

doesn't go into 1...

goes into 12 3 times...

203!

There was another tap at his window. Annoyed, he went to see what was wrong with the glass window. Maybe there was a tree branch tapping it. That could get really annoying, and creepy, at night. He opened the window and stuck his head out. There wasn't anything there, except a little green eyed squirrel. He shrugged and ducked back inside, back to his homework.

Now... 72 multiplied by 9.

9 times 2 is 18...

drop the 8, carry the 1...

9 times 7 is 63...

plus 1...

648!

He shivered. Suddenly, he had felt a chill. He looked around, as if he were being watched. There wasn't anyone there. He pressed down his pencil to start writing the next problem, when the lead tip broke. He groaned and stood up to get a new one from his backpack. He walked past the window and stopped. He could've sworn he closed it. He shrugged and locked it shut. He got a new pencil, and started walking back to his desk.

On his homework page, and sharp hand had written in ink, 'believe.'

He looked around wildly. There wasn't anyone there. Maybe this was a new guardian, or another holiday character! He tried to believe in everything he had ever heard of- leprechauns, unicorns, thanksgiving turkeys, and the frost and heat misers. He cracked open one eye, and looked around. Nothing.

Tentatively, he picked up his new pencil, and wrote clearly on his paper- 'Are you there?'

He put it down and stepped back. Before his eyes, black ink scrawled across the page: 'Yes. Can you see me?'

"I'm sorry, I can't." said Jaime apologetically. "Who are you?"

Below the previous message, the invisible person wrote: 'Scarlet'

Jaime tried to pronounce it out loud. "Why can't I see you?"

The ink scrawled across the page. "No one can see me."

"I bet the Guardians could help you!"

"They cannot see me either."

"Maybe... maybe I could help?"

"Really? You would do that?"

"Of course!"

Jamie ran eagerly to the door, and opened it, gesturing for the invisible person to follow him. "So, I'm not sure if you're here..." Jamie talked as he ran down the stairs. "...but I'm not sure what works and what doesn't, trying to get people to see a spirit. I mean, I believe in Bigfoot, and I still can't see you!"

He pulled on some rain boots and jumped out the door. In a patch of unmelted snow on the ground, words began smoking: 'Don't believe in me'

He stopped in his tracks. "Of course I do!'

The word 'Don't' was underlined.

"What do you mean, you don't want me to believe in you?"

'It does not work.'

Jamie furrowed his brow, thinking hard. "You mean, even if I believe in you, I can't see you?"

There was a silence.

"Hey, maybe I could get Jack to believe in you, and then it would work!"

Without waiting for a reply, Jamie ran off towards the little frozen pond in the woods where Jack liked to hang out.

Scarlet sat back and groaned. That wasn't what she meant.


	21. Chapter 21

_The little huddled figure. Long dead to the world. Covered in a long worn hood. Rough to the skin now. Doesn't move. Doesn't open her eyes. Does she even breathe? There. She shivers. A little. And there, in the corner of her eye. A tear. _

_Long kept in the dark. Hasn't seen the light in... A long time. No comfort except for the cold ground. No kind words except the dark whispers of the nightmares. She could strike. Right now. If she wanted. But she doesn't. Can't. Can she? What is she thinking? _

_What is that in her hand? A small piece. A piece of something. A gem. A green gem. It's dulled. Dulled by years. And darkness. Always darkness. Broken. Broken away from the whole. Long ago. Her sister was smart. Smarter than she thought. Is smarter. Smarter than she thinks. She grabbed it. Right before she was caught. Before they were hidden. Tossed away. Imprisoned._

_What traps her? What makes her shudder? And cry? And fear?_

_The things. The things in her head. She hears them. But they don't see her. Never. They can touch her. Touch her! But she can't touch them. Ever. They are horrible things. Horrible, horrible things._

_She hears a battle. Great noises! Evil noises. Loud noises. They hurt her ears. But she can't reach up. Reach up to cover her ears. They hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt. She hears a new horrible sound. A scream. A scream that shouldn't have happened. She could've stopped it. But she didn't. _

_More screams. Some are old. Some young. Some small, insignificant to lesser ears. But not her ears. They hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt..._

_A gunshot rips through the air. And something else. A wolf howls. And lunges. A storm rages. And buries. A fire rises. And burns. The air grows cold. And something freezes._

_Could she have stopped it? Always she asks. Never she knows. She feels the tears run down their faces. She hears their hearts beat and beat and beat._

_Does her heart beat?_

_The sun does not set. It never does. Never never never never never..._

_A greater battle. Bigger noises! More bullets rip through the air. And through other things. More blood. It stains the ground, and wafts in the air. More tears. She drowns in them. The wolves grow. Larger. Larger! LARGER! And they lunge._

_The mother cries, the child weeps. The ground freezes, and the roof burns. _

_Does she cry?_

_No._

_There are no more tears._

_It has been Fourteen hundred and ninety nine years._

_Wait._

_Tick tick tick tick DONG._

_More tears... more things... more horrible things..._

_It has been fifteen hundred years._

_She is done._

_Ci'el wants out._


	22. Chapter 22

Jack was pulled out of his musings by a child's voice calling for him. "Jack!"

For a moment, Jack shook his head. He was just hallucinating his sister's voice again. I occurred with alarming regularity now that he had has memory back. He went back to skating.

"Jack!" The voice called again. He stopped. He knew that voice!

Sure enough, a familiar shaggy-headed ten-year-old appeared out of the woods. "Jack, there you are!" Jamie panted.

The poor kid was out of breath, he had been running so hard! "You have to come quick!" he gasped. Jack became worried. Had something happened? Was Pitch about to strike at Burgess? Were Jamie or Sophie hurt? Was a meteor hurtling towards earth?

"There's a girl at my house!"

Jack blinked. Seriously? But he suspected something else was up. "Woah, woah, slow down, kid!" he held a chilly hand on Jamie's shoulder to calm him down.

"Start from the beginning. What happened? What's going on?"

Jamie took a deep breath, and some color returned to his cheeks. He immediately began a lengthy explanantion.

"So, I was in my room doing my math homework, it's that long addition stuff that you can't figure out? And the window was open, and the room was getting cold, so I went to close it. But when I went to close it, I looked at my math homework again, and there was writing on it! Yeah, someone wrote on it. They were writing it while I was watching, and I couldn't see them! I'm pretty sure it was a girl named Scarlet. And she said that she's like you guys! The Guardians, I mean. But no one could see her, not even you guys! The Guardians. So she asked me to help her out, and get people to see her, like I helped you out, so I need you to come down to my house, 'cause she's waiting there, and I need you to see her!" He blurted this all out with one long, drawn out breath.

Jamie handed Jack his math homework with Scarlet's message on it. Jack held the paper up to the midday light so he could see it better. "Is this singed?" he scrunched up his brow in confusion. He shook his head. "So, wait, you saw a girl named Scarlet?"

Slowly, Jamie shook his head. "No, not exactly."

"So, you heard her and talked to her that way, right?"

Another shake of the head again, no.

"Then how do you know this? How are you communicating with her?" Jamie shrugged. "She burned some words in a snowbank."

Fire power, wow! That was... probably not Jack's favorite. What on earth her nature duties or whatever could be, Jack had no idea. Jack sighed tiredly, worries about Pitch and his argument with the Guardians still bouncing around his head. "Okay, kid. Where is she?"

Jamie pointed back in the direction of his house, and the two friends, the Guardian and the Believer, started the journey back, to meet the Small one.


	23. Chapter 23

Scarlet sat, not shivering. The internal flame in her body helped to keep her warm, but she still shivered. But why? Why was she shivering? Out of fear? No! Of course not! Scarlet wasn't afraid of anything. There were still a few snowbanks from the winter lying around, but it was warm and sunny. It wasn't out of the cold.

Finally, she decided that it was out of anticipation.

If you were to ask Sage, she would say that she was holding in laughter from a joke she just thought of. Sapphire would say that she was merely nervous. Not scared, of course, no!

And what was present of Sepia would profess fear. Deep, dark dread.

And so, Scarlet sat next to a snowbank, shivering out of anticipation- or maybe laughter, or nerves, or fear.

She planned it all out brilliantly! Jack and the adorable little kid, Jamie, would head up here out of the woods, and she would be ready. There was a tree right here- it was a stupid tree. Scarlet scowled, thinking about the tree. She planned on burning words into it with her fire power. Her lips widened at the mental mention of her own gift. Her fire was superior to all other fire, and could beat any of her sisters any day.

This immediately brought on a barrage of insults and arguments from the offended individuals, so she amended them. "You can grow all the soybeans you want when I'm done, Sage."

It didn't exactly help.

Ignoring the quiet rantings, she resumed her concentration as she held her finger like a blowtorch and started heating the rock hard trunk of the great tree. She was going to burn a message in there. It would be so obvious that the Fun Guardian would never be able to ignore it!

Finally, forces of the universe! She would beat them all at their own game! Far, far too long had they held her captive in their quest to keep her hidden. She would finally be seen!

It was all for naught. Of course it was! Nothing was ever this easy. Did she really think that the forces of the universe that constantly eluded her would so easily let up now, when she really really really needed them to? Of course not. They were the forces of the universe, and they continued to elude her.

This coming loudly from Sapphire and Sepia.

She rolled her eyes and continued singing out carefully formed letters...

_Γ... ε... ι... α... σ... α... ς... τ... ο... ό... ν... ο... μ... ά... μ... ο... υ... ε... ί... ν... α... ι..._

_Hello, My Name Is..._

Scarlett's grin widened. Yes, this was coming along nicely...

Or so she thought.

Or so she thought, Sapphire thought sadly. Ever the pessimist.

* * *

Jack flew after the boy, the resulting wind blowing his cap off. Jamie was so, so, so excited about all this, and Jack didn't want to disappoint... even if he did slightly suspect that it really might just be Jamie's imagination... or worse, one of Pitch's tricks.

Nevertheless, the kid was happy, so Jack very much wanted to keep it that way.

He still wasn't sure about this imaginary girl with fire powers, and Jamie so aptly put it.

They rounded the bend and ran up to Jamie's house, where a tree stood right out front. Jamie stood under the trunk of the huge thing and gasped. "Look! Right here! She left a message!"

Jack smiled tightly. Here was the part where he would have to play imaginary games with Jamie. Someday, this might be diagnosed as some sort of dangerous mental illness, but for now, it was good fun.

Jack looked where Jamie was pointing.

And he dropped his staff.

Symbols were burnt into the trunk, at about chest height. He couldn't tell what the words meant, but they seemed to be the same hand writing as the message on the math homework Jamie had given him. Jack's eyes widened. "I need to show this to the Guardians." he said dumbly.

"Yes, you do that." Scarlet smiled. Finally, things were finally coming to fruition!

Jamie started jumping up and down, a wide grin on his face. "See, I told you!" He started running back inside. "I'll go get a paper, so we can write this down!"

Jack furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why do we need to write it down?"

Jamie turned around, confused. "Because they're chopping down that tree today."

Scarlet's muscles locked, and she passed out in a dead faint.

"Yeah, my mom is having the loggers chop down the tree, 'cause it's getting old, and she doesn't want any of us getting hurt. Me and Sophie- Sophie and I, I mean."

"Jamie, get inside! They're about to cut it down!" Mrs. Bennett called from inside the Bennett house.

Sage was screaming inside.

Sapphire was quiet. "I knew this was going to happen. It always happens. Every time... every time... every time... why why why why why does it have to happen every time?"

For the first time, Jack noticed the burly logger-esque fellows setting up harnesses and straps around the tree. They all had stereotypical smelly beanies and beards and hairy arms and plaid shirts and overalls. Normally, Jack liked Canada... but this was a bit too far south for Canadians.

Jack followed Jamie inside. He took out the paper and grabbed a pen off the counter. He copied down the symbols the best that he could from the front window. Yes, he was staying safely away from the tree- just because people could walk through him, doesn't mean that falling trees didn't hurt! He had been to Canada enough times to not make that mistake too much...

The burliest of the burly loggers stepped out from the burly logging truck- yes, even the truck was pretty darn burly- with an incredibly burly chainsaw. The chainsaw was even burlier than the truck. He pulled a starter cord once... twice... three times... WHOOSH! Black smoke started puffing out from the chain saw's motor, causing several nearby bystanders to cough uncontrollably.

The logger hefted the rumbling chain saw and pressed it up to the huge trunk of the old tree.

Suddenly, Mrs. Bennett started looking around. "Where's Sophie?" she murmured.

At the same time, Sapphire woke up, dazed, confused, and right under the tree.

"Sophie?" she called upstairs. Not there.

She wasn't in the backyard, either.

The logger had cut halfway through the tree now, and a pile of sawdust had amassed at his feet. He was cutting it so it would fall towards the woods, rather than the house or the street.

"Sophie?!" Mrs. Bennett called again. Jack started looking for Sophie himself. He started getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Sure enough, he looked out the window, and not far off,

near the woods,

right in the path of the great tree,

nearly three fourths through now,

Little Sophie Bennett was playing with her stuffed bunny rabbit.

And she didn't have any intention of moving.

Jack panicked. He shoved the math homework- the most important thing he had found today- in Jamie direction. He vaguely remembered saying, "Stay here!" before flying out the window.

The tree was nine tenths of the way there, now.

Jack started running, and he grabbed his staff off of the ground where he left it. The chilly wind immediately picked it up, and he started flying to save the little girl.

The tree was cut clean through, now, and it was at a forty five degree angle, getting closer and closer to meeting the ground.

Jack was flying fast, but somehow, he knew he would never make it. Not in time.

And he didn't.

Ci'el did.

Jack was sprawled in the snow, having been clipped in the back by a falling branch. In a haze of despair, expecting to find the crushed body of Sophie Bennett wedged under a tree, was surprised to see a very different scene.

Sophie Bennett was safe and sound, three feet from the felled tree, but sniffling nonetheless. She was looking at the trunk, or something on it. She had a few cuts on her knees, but otherwise, none the worse for wear.

He vaguely heard Mrs. Bennett calling for her little girl, both grateful that she was safe and angry that she had been so close to the danger zone.

Jack blinked a few times. He had to be hallucinating. The cuts on Sophie's knees, which had been bleeding steadily a moment ago, were now slowly closing, new fresh folds of flesh folding over the wounds.

He blinked again. There. It was her again. The little girl from the woods. She knelt next to the crying girl, holding her hands out towards the knees. Almost like she was healing her.

The girl turned her head towards him. The hood still shadowed much of her face, but he could still see her eyes.

They were a deep, melancholy blue.

No, no, no, no, no! That wasn't right! The girl he had seen was green eyed. Did people really just change eye color that easily? Jack Frost blinked rapidly, dazed by the pain and the shock, and shook his head to clear it. He looked up again. Sophie was perfectly fine, no scar or wound on her knees, and no girl with green blue purple yellow whatever eyes. He was hallucinating. Do Guardians go crazy? North was crazy. So it was possible…

He vaguely remembered seeing, out of the corner of his eye, the burly Canadian logger-esque strong men beginning to chop up the tree and feed bits of it into the great big wood shredder that sat in a trailer across the street. He winced as the carefully burnt symbols etched into the tough trunk were chewed up and spat out as splinters into a huge bin, destined to become tissues and toilet paper. Mostly, he thought about what it would be like if something else were to be shoved in there- a person, perhaps. Uggh. Nasty things, wood shredders.

He was dazed and confused, but he still remembered clearly what happened next. Jamie and Mrs. Bennett ran down towards Sophie and Jack. Jamie's mom swooped down and scooped up her little girl and hugged her tightly, thanking whichever deity she worshipped for her daughter's safe delivery, then proceeded in scolding her thoroughly for her disobedience and inattention. Jamie tried to be discreet when talking to Jack. After all, they couldn't have the grown ups seeing a ten year old boy talking to his imaginary friend! They'd make him go into therapy or something! So he had to whisper the words out of the corner of his mouth.

"I lost the paper."

Jack looked up sharply, surprised.

"The wind blew it out of my hand, and it went right into the shredder!" He casually pointed across the street at the loggers' trailers.

Meanwhile, just a few yards away, a sad, blue-eyed girl in a brownish hood hugged herself, and whispered. "Why, why why why why why…"


	24. Chapter 24

_"It happens every time! We can not let it happen again!" Scarlet shrieked._

_"Aw, you say that every time." Sage huffed. "Why don't we all just forget about it?"_

_"Because the world will end if we don't get someone to see us!" Scarlet shot back._

"It's no use." Sapphire sighed. "Most spirits have tried for hundreds of years without success. We're not going to do it overnight."

_"Oh, and here she goes again!" Scarlet hissed. "Little miss sob story, waiting for fate to take its toll!"_

Sapphire, of course, did not reply.

_"Aw, be quiet, Scarlet!" Sage drawled. "It's not like your fire power is going to make things any better."_

_"YOU can't focus for five seconds!"_

_"I'm not a stubborn, destructive old stick in the mud!"_

Silence.

"She didn't mean it, Scarlet!" Sapphire whispered pleadingly.

_"But I did?" Sage said naively._

"Face it." Sapphire leaned against a rock and dangled her toes in the stream. How she loved the water! "We need Sepia."

_"NO WE DO NOT!" Scarlet raged._

_"Actually, we kinda do. She's the bread on the sandwich! The tortilla on the burrito! The super sticky stuff that holds us together!" Sage agreed with Sapphire._

_"Well, last I checked, she's not ALL HERE, now is she?" Scarlet hissed. "So what of it?"_

_"I can still hear you." Sepia whispered softly._

Sapphire sat up a little straighter. "What do you think, Sepia?" she asked hopefully.

Silence.

_"See?" Scarlet said smugly. "Useless."_

Gosh, it was hard sharing a head with three people.

* * *

Jack wasn't sure whether he should stay here and look for the girl- who now he was POSITIVE he had seen- or go get the Guardians.

He couldn't understand what exactly he had seen; The night before, he had seen a girl with a special basket and a blanket. Light brown eyes.

Later, he had seen a girl in the woods with green eyes.

Just now, Jamie said there was a girl named Scarlet with fire powers. When he went to go look for her, he saw the same girl as before, with blue eyes and healing abilities.

What?

Each time, the girl had disappeared just as quickly as she had appeared.

Jack shook his head. Okay, okay. What had happened leading up to him seeing the girl? It had to be something that made him see her at random times.

He was in the house... he flew back up to Jamie's house.

He saw Sophie playing near the tree... He shuddered at how close she had come to being crushed.

He flew down... he flew down the hill, just as fast as he had before, blowing away the loggers' hats.

There! Just out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of brown that didn't belong.

Down by his lake, there! A little beige lump, that was definitely the girl.

The moment he had comprehended all this, she had flashed out of existence again. He flew down to the lake, and Jamie, seeing what he was doing, ran after Jack.

"I saw her, Jamie!" Jack whispered, and landed a few paces away from the shore.

"You did?" Jamie's eyes widened. "What did she look like?"

"I've seen her before, but she keeps disappearing." Jamie was enraptured. "She has a grey dress, and a brown hood. Her eyes keep changing color."

"Woah!" Jamie was so excited. "And you saw her down here?"

"Yes, you saw me!" Sapphire found it difficult to stay sad at such an exciting moment, but she had to try.

Jack stayed a few paces away from the shore. "Hello?" he called, trying to, shall we say, make contact.

"I hope you're still here. Is there any way that you can communicate? Give us a message? Who are you?"

Jamie had his notebook out of his pocket and a pencil ready. "I saw an episode of ghost hunters like this once."

Sapphire kicked her foot in the water, hopeful that it was enough of a confirmation for the winter spirit.

Jack heard the 'plop' of the water. "You're still here! Good! Listen, I'm like you. I'm a spirit. So why can't I see you?"

Sapphire, who actually knew English- (_"Hey!" Scarlet growled.) _decided to go for the sandy soil near the shore. She carefully traced the letters-

B... E... L... I...

"Believe?" Jack noticed the word. "But I do believe you exist! And- why do I need to believe in you? I'm not a human. I don't need to believe in you to see you! So why can't I?"

Sapphire sighed. How could she explain what she did not know?

Suddenly, it hit Jack.

A spirit that even a spirit could not see.

The pieces began to click together.

"Do you know anything," he tried, "about Ci'el?"

There was a moment of awkward silence.

Y... E... S...

"You know him?!" Jack was excited now.

Y... E... S...

Sapphire was close to tears now. He would never understand-

"Can you take me to him?"

N... O...

"What? Why not?!"

No answer.

"Do you know where I can find Ci'el?"

For once, the four sisters were in agreement, even the sliver of Sepia.

D... I... E...

Jamie gave Jack a nervous look. Was that a threat?


	25. Chapter 25

"Guys, guys, guys!" Jack flew in through the workshop window. The other Guardians had immersed themselves in the library, looking for some way to find the last relic, or a way to activate their power. They looked up, surprised to see him back.

"Come back to apologize, have ya?" Bunny said smugly.

Jack ignored him. "I think I know why we haven't been able to find Ci'el."

North looked surprised. "Vell, ve haven't exactly been looking for him..."

"It's because we can't SEE him!"

They let the sentence hang in the air for a moment, waiting to see how it tasted.

"We can't see Ci'el." Bunny said with clear disbelief.

"Jack," Tooth spoke slowly, like she was explaining something to a child. "Ci'el is a spirit, like us. Why wouldn't we be able to see him?"

Jack shook his head. "I don't know. But I met this girl- I think she's a new spirit or something, because I've never heard of her- Sandy, I told you about her!"

Sandy nodded eagerly, remembering. He made a silhouette of the girl he had met on the beach, just on a hunch.

"Yes, exactly that! Anyways, half the time I can't see her. She just turns invisible, like how humans see us! So it hits me- maybe that's why we haven't found Ci'el!"

Bunny studied Sandy's sand image. "Hold up. This girl wears a hood? Gray Dress?"

Jack's eyes widened. "Bunny, you saw her?"

"At the volcano, while we were going up. It's weird- I forgot 'bout it right after."

Their eyes connected, and they both knew they were each starting to have the same suspicions.

"How were you able to communicate?" Tooth broke the silence.

Jack told them what had happened at Burgess, with Jamie and Sophie. "It's weird, though. Every time I've been able to see her, it's like she has different abilities. Her eyes change, too. I think I've seen her three or four times now, and she's had brown, blue, and green eyes."

"I saw 'er with red eyes." Bunny nodded, agreeing.

Sandy grinned. It was the girl from the beach! He clapped his hands excitedly.

"You've seen her too?"

He nodded excitedly, and tried to tell them the story.

"Er... no, thanks, I think we've got it."

Tooth tried to reason it out. "So, we have to believe... or die. You sure she wasn't just threatening you?"

Jack shrugged. "She seemed fairly peaceful. At least, she didn't try to kill me."

Bunny held up a paw to cut him off. "The girl was at the volcano."

Sandy made an image of a mountain.

North raised a finger. "Pitch was fighting something, like it vas invisible, at ze Redwood forest!"

Tooth settled on the ground. "Jack, I think we did find Ci'el..."

The words began to sink in...

And the telephone rang.

It was a wooden, super-old fashioned Candlestick telephone sitting unnoticed on one of the library desks, almost like a decoration.

Sheepishly, North got up and noisily crossed the silent room to answer it.

"You have a phone?" Jack deadpanned.

North shushed him and answered it. "This is the North Pole. North speaking. Yes. Yes. Of course, ve vill be there right avay!" He slammed the ear piece back into its holder and grabbed his coat off of a chair.

"Come, come! Ve are going!"

"Who the heck called you?" Bunny asked as the Guardians ran out of the library after the toy maker.

* * *

"Thank you so much for letting me stay here." Sapphire said sweetly to her old friend.

"It's no trouble!"

"Oh, no, I really am grateful!"

"Really, it's fine."

"It's so good to see you again." Sapphire sighed sadly. "I still remember the day I got Scarlet to save your life-"

"Aw man, here we go..." the Groundhog grumbled so she couldn't hear. "Worst day of my life."

_"Second worst day of my life." Scarlet grumbled._

When the sisters were a few hundred years old, they had been crossing the American prairie, when they heard a hunting party pass. They were picking off groundhogs and gophers, much to the dismay of Sage.

A cute fat one with black stripes had sought refuge behind the girls' leg, but since the hunters were unable to see her, he was practically a sitting duck. The arrow had missed most of the rodent's vital organs, but Sage insisted that they save the poor creature.

They took him to Scarlet's lab, where Sapphire and Sage coaxed the rather cynical surgeon to save its life.

Of course Scarlet, even with years of studying behind her, was not the most skilled physician; her skill was in Chemistry, not biology. She had tried using a bit of moondust to cure him; all it did was make him talk and live forever.

Oops.

The groundhog was genial enough; kept a tidy hole, put on a show for the weathermen every once in a while, enjoyed long naps...

But frankly, he was an animal by nature, and an animal's life is one of survival. When Pitch sought to take over the world, the little guy offered no protection to the girls.

Sapphire didn't hold anything against him.

Scarlet did.

"Your hole hasn't changed a bit!" Sapphire gushed in a depressing way.

The ground hog scratched his belly. "Thanks. I guess." he had a pipsqueaky sort of voice, and was pretty much the size of a groundhog.

"But I am having such trouble..."

The Groundhog's whiskers twitched. He sensed trouble. 'Please don't tell me about it-' he silently pleaded with whatever deities may be listening.

"The boogeyman still has my sister, Sepia, captive. He can use her power to take over the world, and we desperately need to get her back!"

Groundhog feet did a nervous little dance. "Look- Saph- I'm not cut out for defendin' the world stuff! I just wanna stay in my hole! I'm really sorry-"

Sage laughed. "You're funny! I'm not asking for your help! Don't be ridiculous!"

He stopped. "I thought-"

"What?" Scarlet hissed. "You thought that you'd be too cowardly to help out the people who saved your life?" Flames appeared at her finger tips.

"Shame on you!" Sapphire hit herself in the head to teach her sister a lesson. She used a ball of water to extinguish the flaming curtains of the Groundhog Hole.

"You- you could ask the Guardians?" the Groundhog suggested meekly.

Sapphire nodded. "Yes, we've been trying that, but we can't seem to make them see us."

"I can see you."

"Yes, I suppose because, in a way, we created you." Sapphire said sullenly.

"I could give you a reference?"

Sapphire sat up. "That's an excellent idea." she said sadly.

The Groundhog waddled over to the table and picked up his iPhone.

_"See, I told you my uAudios would be big in the future!" Scarlet gloated._

_"I thought we'd see more Jackalopes." Sage mourned._

Groundhog dragged a phone book from under his bed tucked in the corner, and dialed a number. "Hello, North? Yes, this is the Groundhog. I have a friend here, her name is Ci'el?"

"I'm not Ci'el." the girls whispered in unison.

The Groundhog ignored her. He knew better. "Yeah, at my hole. You coming, or what?"


End file.
